A shady lane, Tunbridge Wells, Kent

As the authors of the Great Age of English Watercolours catalogue acknowledged, Middleton's tour of Kent in 1847, when he was only twenty, produced 'a number of his best free watercolour landscapes'. In The Norwich School of Artists Moore observes that '1847 proved to be the annus mirabilis of Middleton's life and career' (1985, p. 144). Several watercolours of this date, and of a similar size to the present drawing, are in the Norwich Castle Museum.

It seems probable that Middleton accompanied his tutor Henry Bright (1810-1873) on his tour of Kent in 1847. For drawings by Bright of Kent and Tunbridge see, M. Allthorpe-Guyton, Henry Bright 1810-1873 Paintings and Drawings in Norwich Castle Museum, Norfolk Museums Service, 1986, pp. 78, 80-81, nos. 50, 54 and 55.