Sheep Washing

Sheep Washing represents a composition and subject that is at once typical of the work of James Stark in particular and of the Norwich Society painters in general. Stark produced no fewer than five paintings of this subject throughout his career. The scene is based on a view of Postwick Grove east of Norwich, although by the time Stark painted it many trees had been felled to make way for agriculture. He included a similar view in his engraving publication Scenery of the Rivers of Norfolk of 1834.