3-070-587 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

In Search of Water Lilies, 1883. 'English rivers and ponds, so delightful in summer, have no more charming accessory features than this beautiful aquatic plant. The scene delineated by our own artist, in one of our Engravings this week, gains additional interest from the presence of human figures. The crew of a punt, afloat upon a delicious piece of water, curtained with osiers and willows and other riverside trees, have a pleasant time of it no doubt on a sunshiny afternoon in the month of July or August. If the crew happen to consist of two such engaging young ladies as are here depicted, somebody would like, perhaps, to watch their proceedings from the innocent covert of adjacent foliage, and to hear the gentle laughter of triumphant dexterity, as she with the pole in hand deftly drives their shallow vessel across the placid stream, to be within reach of the coveted flowers...These damsels, if by mischance they suffer a ducking, have probably been taught to swim; and their home is not far distant, tire river winding, seemingly, through their father's park. We admire their method of healthy recreation, and sympathise with the pleasure it affords them'. From "Illustrated London News", 1883.