THE work of a popular Malvern artist and an 18th century landscape painter, separated by two-and-a-half centuries, are featured in a new exhibition at Croome Court.

Local artist Antony Bridge has been commissioned to paint the Croome landscape, 261 years after famous landscape painter Richard Wilson was also engaged to paint the emerging landscape of the 6th Earl of Coventry’s home near Worcester.

Mr Bridge was asked by the National Trust to interpret the same view as Wilson selected in his accomplished landscape painting of 1758.

Both of the artists’ work feature in new exhibition, Bridge & Wilson, which opened on February 15 and includes six paintings by Wilson on loan from Gloucester Museum.

“I was delighted to be asked to undertake Croome’s first landscape painting commission since 1758,” said Antony Bridge.

"I wanted to paint the view with the house at the same proportions but to give this new piece more colour and energy which I try to do in all my work.

"This painting is my largest to date and a little daunting at first. It’s such a large canvas, but I came to love it and it allowed me to be more creative having such a large space for the eye to meander over.

“The viewpoint has huge historical importance for Croome as Wilson first painted it as an idealised picture of the future, rather than an observation,” said Amy Forster-Smith, Croome’s visitor experience manager.

“In 1758, the parkland was a building site, with the landscape and river still under construction by ‘Capability’ Brown.

"We don’t know exactly why the 6th Earl of Coventry commissioned a painting at this point of the redesign of Croome, but we can surmise that it was to show friends and acquaintances what his new ‘utopia’ would look like."

 Visitors can see their work in the Drawing Room of Croome Court until December 31.