Hill-top under snow

The composition captures the quiet, muted atmosphere of a winter landscape, emphasizing the way snow softens the contours of the hills. Potter’s own writings reveal her fascination with the way mist and snow transform the familiar terrain, a sentiment echoed in the subdued palette and simplified forms of the study.

Rendered in watercolour, the piece employs loose washes and minimal detail, allowing the white of the paper to suggest snow-covered surfaces. The rapid application of pigment conveys immediacy, a hallmark of Potter’s outdoor studies, where observation outweighs finished polish.

The drawing was produced during Potter’s early years at Hill Top, a farm she purchased in 1905. It forms part of a series of winter studies made during the same stay, several of which entered the Linder Bequest collection. The work has remained within that bequest, documenting Potter’s artistic practice alongside her literary output.

Potter’s watercolours of the Lakeland fells were created alongside her prolific work as a children’s author and illustrator, most notably the Peter Rabbit books published between 1901 and 1913. Her artistic pursuits were intertwined with her stewardship of the Lake District landscape, which she both wrote about and depicted in sketchbooks.