Lemon Branches in Gold

About this work

Stretching from one side of the panel to the other, a long lemon branch carries six ripe fruits spaced along its length, so the yellow repeats across the picture like a slow beat. White blossoms open between them and glossy dark-green leaves fill the gaps, giving each lemon a frame of shadow. The colour is laid in soft watercolour over fine engraved lines, which keeps the yellow luminous and the leaves crisp at their edges. Much of the warm cream ground is left open above and below the branch, and that space is what makes the composition feel calm and sunny. From a distance it reads as a cheerful band of yellow and green. Up close, the hatching on the leaves and the small white petals show the patience of an old plate.

Antique botanical plates of the 18th and 19th centuries often showed a plant's flowers and fruit on the same sheet, so that one image could tell its whole story. The lemon suits that tradition perfectly, because the tree can carry blossom and ripe fruit at the same time. Here the familiar plate layout is stretched into a wide horizontal composition, as if the branch had grown beyond the edges of the page.

A white or light oak frame keeps it fresh, and morning light from a kitchen window suits the yellow. In a dining corner, The Lemon Branch, the portrait version, can hang right beside it. The 7680 × 4320 px print file, about 65 cm wide at 300 dpi, makes cheerful kitchen wall art above a sideboard, bench or breakfast table on white, cream or pale blue walls. The separate 4K TV pack includes 3840 × 2160 for the Samsung Frame or any 4K art-mode TV, plus 2560 × 1440 and 1920 × 1080.