John Eaden's paintings in Towards the Grand Tour are quietly mysterious.
Eaden describes his style as realist with a topographical view that suggests a real place - an image from which he has subtracted some detail, adding another indefinable quality.
Deep green silhouettes of trees against an undefined gold hued sky catch the eye; the structures, foreground and waterways painted in soft earth and subtle mineral tones that suggest the shapes and contours.
Eaden is intrigued with the romantic idea of The Grand Tour of earlier centuries undertaken by the privileged young English gentlemen (and sometimes ladies) who travelled through Western Europe studying art and historic cultural sites.
It was thought desirable to "finish" the aesthetic education in arts and manners in this way.