Andrew Cowdell, Clamour over Hermitage, 2016

Andrew Cowdell, Clamour over Hermitage, 2016, oil on linen

In this monochrome oil painting, a clamour of rooks enhances the beauty of the Berkshire landscape made desolate by the damp, overcast weather. 

In the following extract the French poet Arthur Rimbaud describes his affection for these raucous birds:

Lord, when the meadowland is cold, 

and when in the downcast hamlets the long Angeluses are silent.. 

down on Nature barren of flowers let 

them sweep from the wide skies, the dear delightful rooks. 

from The Rooks (Les Corbeaux)

by Arthur Rimbaud, 1854-1891