Image: Barret, Belle Island, Windermere

Description: During the 1770s the scenery of Lake District became a popular attraction for tourists, aesthetes and painters and particularly after Thomas West's Guide to the Lakes of 1778, which commended 'the noble scenes of Poussin exhibited on Windermere-Water'. Lake Windermere, with Belle Isle, its largest island, was one of the principal attractions. and it featured in late C18 guides to the area, including Thomas West's Guide to the Lakes of 1778,. The island, formerly Longholme, was bought by Thomas English in the 1772 and the architect Plaw built a three story rotunda house (just discernible in the painting) with a massive classical portico.. In 1781 he sold the site to Isabella Curwen, whose husband, John Christian Curwen, renamed the island 'Belle Isle'. The island remained in the ownership of the Curwen family until 1992.
Title: Lake Windermere with Belle Island
Credit: National Gallery of Victoria, Australia. [1]
Author: George Barret, Sr.
Usage Terms: Public domain
License: Public domain
Attribution Required?: No