Under Heaven's Protection

Watercolour and gouache
Signed and Dated 1898

Exhibited Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolour Annual Exhibition 1899

Henry Stock had good reason to believe in the angels and dream-like visions that feature so heavily in his work. The artist had been blind in childhood but recovered his sight miraculously when sent away to the New Forest for a cure. Stock's eyesight became so good in fact, that he was able to train as a miniaturist - a formidable test of anyone's vision. This beautiful depiction of a sleeping child cherished and protected by a hovering guardian angel is typical of Stock's delightful oeuvre, which combines a miniaturist's eye for detail, with subtle colour and an ethereal, visionary quality reminiscent of William Blake and G.F Watts