TWO historians are hoping Review readers can help pinpoint the spot where this picture was painted.

The painting, called A Stone Quarry in the Forest of Dean, was by Edward C Williams (1807-1881) who was famed for his coastal and woodland scenes.

On the back of the frame, possibly in the artist’s own writing, the words “near Bream” can faintly be deciphered.

The painting’s owner, retired GP Dr Anthony Lynch who has written on art subjects, and local historian Terry Scott-Moore are hoping to find exactly where Williams took his easel and brushes that day some 150 years ago,

The painting, which is 31 inches by 43 inches hangs in Dr Lynch’s home in Minsterworth and, just an hour before it went under the hammer in West Sussex asked Mr Scott-Moore, who also lives in the village, to jointly bid for it.

Mr Scott-Moore said: “Together we have searched known quarry sites around Bream and elsewhere within the Forest, but have not yet been able to identify the place where it was painted.

“We hope someone will be able to – A Stone Quarry in the Forest of Dean is a fine landscape painting with a lovely gentle atmosphere. At that time, exceptional artists such as EC Williams, found scenery which reconciled the industrial with the pastoral. In the painting, cows, probably from a nearby farm, are close to the then active quarry. 

“A painting of this quality of a scene in the Forest of Dean by a noted Victorian artist is relatively rare and really should have a home in the Forest of Dean where it can be on view and appreciated by Forest people.”

Anyone who wishes to see the painting should e-mail Mr Scott-Moore at [email protected] or call 01452 750160.