BENJAMIN WILLIAMS LEADER (BRITISH 1831-1923)A SURREY COMMON (NEAR GOMSHALL)Oil on canvasSigned and dated 1913 (lower left)50.8 x 76.2cm (20 x 30 in.)Provenance:Sold by the artist to Wallis, London, 6 September 1913Sale, Christie's London, November 4, 1994, lot 126Private collection, Diana and Martin Barnes, OxfordshireLiterature:Frank Lewis, Benjamin Williams Leader 1831-1923, R. A.,1971, cat. no. 646In 1889 Leader purchased a house at Burrows Cross, on the ridge just south of the village of Gomshall near Shere in Surrey. In Leader's day this was a relatively untamed common land covered with fir trees, heather, gorse and bracken on which the house offered very paintable views.