English School, A Ruined Tower and a Windmill, a Pair

The painter signed only with the monogram ‘K.M.’ and has not been identified. The two pictures are imaginary landscapes in a romantic vein, painted as a pair, probably in the middle of the 20th century.

In the first, a ruined stone tower rises from a wooded knoll beside still water, with a path winding up past a broken fence. In the second, a windmill stands on a rocky outcrop above a lake, with a snow-capped peak and two poplars on the far shore. The skies are pale, flushed with yellow and pink. The foliage is dabbed on quickly with a loaded brush.

Oil on canvas board. The ruined tower is monogrammed lower left ‘K.M.’; we have found no signature on the windmill. Each is in a matching cream-painted reeded frame, with wear and small losses to the paint of the frames.