'As in 'The Village' there are no figures in this view of the Dorset countryside. This absolute lack of human activity gives Mackintosh's pictures an air of eerie, even surreal, desertion. They are formal landscapes... the most dominant feature in this work is the tall telegraph pole, a formal and unnatural element in this gentle Dorset landscape.' (Roger Billcliffe).
In July Mackintosh and Margaret Macdonald spent a holiday in Dorset re-visiting many of the place he had visited in 1895. 'In 'The Village' and 'The Downs' Mackintosh makes his first conscious moves towards his mature style of the Port Vendres period. He is obviously concerned with the pattern of the landscape, picking out features like the stepped hillside, the stone walls, paths and roofs of village houses. These ordinary motifs are given an eerie emphasis by being painted in an equally detailed manner whether they are in the foreground of the the distance... it was probably at this time... that he decided to concentrate more and more on painting. By 1923 he had decided to forsake architecture and design and devote the rest of his life to producing watercolours.' (Roger Billcliffe).
Florence, Sienna, Aberdeenshire, Verona. Four mounted as one. A: Rape of Polyxena by Fedi in the Loggia dei Lanzi, Florence. July 1899. B: Madonna over South entrance to Cathedral Siena by Michelozzo. April 1899 C: Crathes Castle, Aberdeenshire. Oct 1900 D:Palazzo del Consiglio Verona. Aug 1899.
Contains sketches, notes and stories, including writing on airports. Some pages headed 'Las Fallas, Valencia, March 2005' and 'Route 66'. Includes sketches for a landscape series.
