art and design  Vision of a moment  Samuel Palmer's ethereal
landscapes captured the spirit of the Romantic age - but he is
forever in Blake's shadow. It's time he took his rightful place
in the light, writes Andrew Motion Cornfield by Moonlight,
Samuel Palmer 'Dream of a dream and shadow of a shade' ...
Cornfield by Moonlight by Samuel Palmer. Photograph: © British
Museum  This is the first big Samuel Palmer show to be mounted
in this country since 1926. That seems an amazingly long time
ago, considering how often Palmer is invoked as the disciple of
painters who rarely leave the headlines (Blake), and the
inspiration to others who are often revived for a second look
(the neo-Romantics of the mid-20th century). On the other hand,
maybe it's not so amazing - if we reckon these are both, in a
sense, supporting roles. In any event, it means we have got used
to thinking about Palmer as a background figure - someone as
shadowy as his best-known works, in which barely individuated
figures trudge or traipse through