Watercolour over pencil, 29.5 by 47 cm (11 ½ by 18 ½ ins)

Many of Webb’s most successful woodcuts depict the wild Northumbrian countryside near Hadrian’s Wall where he would visit regularly in the inter-war years. His best watercolours, like this picture, closely reflect his work as a printmaker and retain something of the same graphic quality and inventive composition. Webb was a leading figure in the British wood engraving revival of the 1920s and was highly regarded as an illustrator, with work including that for the Golden Cockerel Press and later for a famous edition of Swallows and Amazons. He taught at Birmingham School of Art in the 1920s, later lecturing on engraving in London at St Martin’s School of Art.