In the late 1850s, while "trying to paint from nature," Goodwin 1st met Arthur Hughes, & after viewing some of his works "found the beginning of [my] inspiration" (Goodwin's Preface in the cat. for Hughes's 1916 Memorial Exh'n). His "major Pre-Raphaelite contacts came in the early 1860s;... thru Ford Madox Brown [to whom Goodwin was introduced by Hughes] Goodwin met William Morris, ... D.G. Rossetti,... & finally John Ruskin.... Under Madox Brown, Goodwin's early landscape style developed into the Pre-Raphaelite manner of using rich, intense colour on a white ground" (Veronica Tonge, in her Intro to the cat. for Goodwin's 1994 Maidstone exh'n). In 1871 Goodwin was elected an Associate member of the Royal Watercolour Society, & in 1881 he was elected to full membership. He "painted in a comparable stippling manner [to Birket Foster], but reached a higher plane of poetry, even a hint of mystery" (Graham Reynolds, Victorian Painting, p.173). For more info on the artist & his works, see last summer's exhibition at Chris Beetles Ltd.
In 1921 Goodwin painted St. Michael's Mount, Cornwall in oils, & at that time likely executed this watercolour on the site of the cross in the Marazion area. Unfortunately, this particular cross has not been located--many Celtic stone crosses have been removed from their original sites, some to churchyards & others stolen by unscrupulous antiquities dealers. "In medieval times before roads were built, communications between farms & parish churches was by way of a footpath.... Crosses were also set up to mark the routes to sacred sites such as holy wells, monasteries & chapels" (Alex Everitt). As a comparison, in 1878 Goodwin painted a watercolour of a similar stone cross (see below).
A devoutly religious man, Goodwin was perhaps inspired to paint this cross as a memorial to the many lives lost during WWI, the repercussions of which were still widely felt.
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