Symonds Yat

Symond's Yat

Watercolour - Signed and dated 1971

Image: 11.25ins x 15ins - Framed: 20ins x 23ins

Suggested Offer: £2,625

The Yat Gorge was mined for iron ore and remains of a smelting works are located down stream of the Symonds Yat Rapids. The ironworks at New Weir date from the 1590s and were operated by the White family until 1753, George White leased the site to John Partridge, an ironmonger from Ross on Wye. Partridge combined the ironworks at New Weir with his forge at Lydbrook which smelted pig iron from his furnace at Bishopswood. The works closed when the lease ran out in 1798 and the adjacent weir and lock buildings were demolished and the lock filled in 1814

The view in the painting is from Symonds Yat rock, a vantage viewpoint looking down the gorge. Many of Norman’s paintings featured the old lady in black or crone and here he shows a contrast between the old spinster and the young lovers

The crone is a character in folklore and fairy tale, an old woman. In some stories, she is disagreeable, malicious, or sinister in manner, often with magical or supernatural associations that can make her either helpful or obstructing. The Crone is also an archetypal figure, a Wise Woman. She is marginalized by her exclusion from the reproductive cycle and her proximity to death places her in contact with occult wisdom