Oil on canvas Signed and dated % , lower left 76.2 x 114.2cm (30 x 45in.) The present work, created for the London, Midland & Scottish Railway (LMS) in 1926, is a stunning example of Talmage s impressionistic views. Its warm tones and clear blue skies offer up a vision of the holiday idyll and must have seemed an enticing dream to inner city workers. Talmage himself is best known as a painter of plein-air scenes, initially in Cornwall, where he chose to live after studying at Hubert von Herkomer s art school in Bushey in Hertfordshire. The natural beauty and light of the region was a constant draw for Talmage and his mellow use of tone and colour combined with the impressionistic use of light and shade defines his style even after he settled in London in 1907. Talmage s painterly style fitted perfectly the demands of a railway poster and he produced a number of posters for the LMS during the 1920s, the most successful of these being the coastal and lakeland landscapes of places such as Aberdeen, Cornwall, the Lake District and Bournemouth. Provenance: Property from a Private Collection