Samuel Palmer - Later Years

Later Years

From the early 1860s he gained some measure of critical success for his later landscapes, which once again had a touch of the early Shoreham work about them – most notable of these is the etching of The Lonely Tower (1879). He had become a full member of the Water Colour Society in 1854, and its annual show gave him a yearly goal to work towards.

His best late works include a series of large watercolours illustrating Milton's poems L'Allegro and Il Penseroso and his etchings, a medium in which he worked from 1850 onwards, including a set illustrating Virgil.

Palmer's later years were darkened by the death in 1861, at the age of 19, of his beloved elder son Thomas More Palmer – a devastating blow from which the father never fully recovered. He lived in various places later in his life, including a small cottage and then an unaffordable villa both at Kensington, then a cottage at Reigate. But it was only when a small measure of financial security came his way at last, that was he able to move to Furze Hill House in Redhill, Surrey, from 1862. Nevertheless he could not even afford to have a daily newspaper delivered to Redhill, suggesting that his financial circumstances there were still tight.

Samuel Palmer died in Redhill, Surrey, and is buried with his wife in Reigate churchyard.