James Edwin MeadowsBritish, (1826-1893)A Country TrackOil on canvas, signed & dated 1861Image size: 29.5 inches x 47.5 inches Size including frame: 36.5 inches x 54.5 inchesA large scale landscape painting of a horse and cart outside a cottage by James Edwin Meadows. A farmer and his dog can be seen standing next to a team of horses and cart on a country track. As he stops outside a cottage, three children can be seen watching on by the front gate. At the time of this painting, Meadows was living at Acton Cottage in Acton.James Edwin Meadows or James Edward Meadows was born in Mountnessing, Essex in 1826 to James Meadows Snr (1798-1864) and Ann Cross. He came from a family of artists; his father was a talented painter of inshore and coastal scenes and his brothers William George Meadows (1825-1907), Alfred John (1833-1894), Edwin Lewis Meadows (1838-1907) and Arthur Joseph Meadows (1843-1907) were all artists. The family lived in Old Town, Clapham and later 12 Coborn Street in Bow. His father taught all of his sons to paint and was an influence on their style and subject matter.Meadows began exhibiting at the Royal Society of British Artists in 1853 and by the time of his marriage to Eliza Ann Rackcliffe, a widow, on 10 March, 1854, had established himself as an artist. The couple spent the first few years of their married life living at Harleyford Street in Kennington from where he made his debut at the Royal Academy in the summer of 1854. He began exhibiting at the British Institution from 1855 and also exhibited at some of the major provincial galleries such as Walker Art Galleries, Liverpool, Manchester City Art Gallery and the Royal Hibernian Academy.By 1861, he was living with his wife and four children at Acton Cottage, Acton Green, later moving to Essex Villa in Acton in 1864. Two of his daughters Alice and Julia Anne also became artists and may well have helped him in his studio. Sometime during the mid to late 1870’s he made his final move to Gainsborough house at no 2 Aldine street, Shepherd’s Bush where he remained for the rest of his life. There is strong evidence to suggest a connection between the artist Jane Vivian, who exhibited from both these addresses and the Meadows family. It is possible that Vivian was a pseudonym of one of his children, or perhaps Meadows himself.From his base in London, he travelled around England painting landscape views of Essex, Kent, Sussex, Surrey and the Isle of Wight for which he became best known. The composition of his paintings are highly appealing, often containing figures, cottages, dogs and other animals such as ducks, which have made his works as popular and sought after today as they were in his lifetime. During the last decade of his life, as well as continuing to paint he also became a professor of painting. He died at his home in Aldine Street on 21 July, 1893. Examples of his work can be found in the Wolverhampton Art Gallery and the Ramsgate Li...