Romantic Landscape
Johnson was first recorded as a draughtsman in Bristol in 1819. By 1823 he was working with Samuel Jackson (1794-1869) and Francis Danby (1793-1861), the latter to whom this painting was formerly attributed. He first exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1822 and by 1825 had moved to London and was living around the corner from Danby. He moved back to Bristol in 1826, where he remained for the rest of his life. As a drawing master in Bath he produced some of the finest architectural drawings and watercolours of the period. The main reason for the uncertainty in attributing this painting (past and present) lies in the presence in Bristol in the 1820s of a group of artists, centred around Danby, who worked closely together producing a remarkable group of paintings. Their subject matter was highly Romantic and they were very popular amongst London collectors. This deep, highly stylised gorge, adorned by dramatic ruins, is possibly a contemporary conceit, that of a vision of the future after the last man has perished.
