From:NHerts
Name/TitleOn the Road to Fairy-Land, oil on canvas
About this objectOn the Road to Fairy-Land, oil on canvas, by Hugh Wallis (1871-1943), about 1904.
This belonged to Barry Parker, one of the planners of Letchworth Garden City.
The inspiration for many artists at this time was the idea of ‘fairyland’, an enchanted and beautiful place of childlike innocence represented here by the two young girls carrying a white flower.
The artist, Hugh Wallis (1871-1943), is better known for his metalwork, but trained as an artist with Herkomer at Bushey.
During the first Coronavirus lockdown of 2020 North Hertfordshire Museum Visitor Services Assistant Joelle Van Giap researched and gave her opinion on this work.
What is the most interesting thing about this object?
This painting was owned by Barry parker one of Letchworth’s town planners. its shows two girls carrying a flower. A representation of childlike innocence and a beautiful place like fairyland that was a popular theme.
Further information
On the road to fairyland was painted in 1904 and depicts two young girls in peasant dress and hats in profile. One of the girls is carrying a white flower believed to be digitalis (foxgloves). In the background there is a vie of ta sandy beach and a winding path to the foreground where there are trees and grass.
The artist Hugh Wallis was born in Kettering on 26/04/1871 into a nature loving and artistic Quaker family. Hugh trained as a pupil of Hubert Von Herkomers school in Bushey Hertfordshire. He exhibited 14 times at the Royal Academy, but his main business was metalwork. He employed 5-6 people at his studio in Altrincham at the turn of the century. They made items in Copper, Pewter Silver and Brass. He registered his first mark at Chester assay offices in 1905, In later life he became a leading figure in The Northern Art workers Guild.
Hugh Wallis was one of nine children born to his parents Martha Ann Stretch and Frederick Wallis. In 1904 Hugh married Dora Myfanwy Watkins and they had three children by 1911. Phillip in 1906, Ruby in 1907 and lastly Brian in 1913. Brian learnt the trade from his father and when Hugh died in 1943 took over the family business. There is only one biography of Hugh’s life written by Margret Thompson written in 2003.
Natural history became very popular in the Victorian era in Great Britain. A major factor in the advancement of microscopes. They became more powerful and more affordable and microscopy became a popular hobby. Looking through a microscope revealed previously unseen worlds. When describing what they had seen people frequently used the language of the fantastical. People used language from fairy-tale to explain the things they had seen through the microscope. There are a substantial amount of Victorian scientific literature connecting fairies to microscopes. In Arabella Buckley’s later published lecture of 1890 she describes “The slime from a rock pool teems with fairy forms darting about”.
Under microscopes the Victorians couldn’t help but perceive a real fairyland, like the microscope, fairies gave the Victorians a means to reimagine the world. Shakespeare hinted at the idea of fairies in his plays, but the ideas never really took hold until the 19th century.
Fairy tales were written for children, but it didn’t stop there by associating fairy imaginings to recent microscopic discoveries fairies enjoyed a magical and cultural renaissance. Illustrations obviously accompanied the text and therefore influenced the visual arts. Painters and other creative artists of the era used this fairyland as a foundation to explore and create new works of art that have left their mark on both the art world and the literary world still today.
MakerWallis, Hugh
Maker RoleArtist
Date Made1904
Period20th Century (1901-2000)
Medium and MaterialsOil on canvas
Inscription and Markssigned: bottom left & right: Hugh Wallis On the road to Fairyland
Measurements515 x 710 (HxWxDxDiam)
Named CollectionLetchworth Museum
Object TypePainting
Object number1983.75
Copyright LicenceAll rights reserved