Clearing with a Lumber Mill. Artist: John Middleton (British, Norwich 1827-1856 Norwich). Dimensions: Sheet: 13 × 19 in. (33 × 48.3 cm). Date: 1847 ().Middleton belonged to the Norwich School, a loose association of artists with a regional identity led at the outset by John Crome (1768-1821) and John Sell Cotman (1782-1842). A member of the next generation, Middleton painted fine, expressive watercolors before succumbing to consumption at age of twenty-nine. The loose brushwork of "Clearing with a Lumber Mill" is charactertistic of the artist's early work, and the subject suggests a date of 1847. In that year Middleton stayed in London to exhibit at the Royal Academy and British Institution for the first time, then toured Kent with Henry Bright (1810-1873), his teacher and a fellow Norwich artist. At this time he made dated drawings of a lumber yard similar to this one near Tunbridge Wells. Museum: Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA.