6. Visionary Depictions

Abstract

Rimmer, who did not always agree with Swedenborg, became a Spiritualist who tried to contact the dead through séances and had his own visions and his own visits to celestial spheres. Possibly manic depression played a role in these otherworldly experiences. Some of his pictures are clearly linked to apparitions that he mentioned experiencing. His largest surviving painting, which is mistitled English Hunting Scene, is a spring-time landscape with his daughters and a spiritual guide at the right, observing different overlapping scenes from the Middle Ages with a modern, railroad bridge in the distance. The daughters are observing ghosts who re-enact what they did in that space in the past. Some did not inhabit the space at the same time so they do not interact. This juxtaposition of different times occurs in two experimental drawings by Rimmer as well, suggestive of the passage of time. A number of his works reflect his otherworldly visions which might include angels or demons or imaginary beings such as those shown in Shooting Stars. The Hunting Scene also contains serfs or different social classes of ghosts related to the artist's empathy for the working poor. The picture pertains to teaching through seeing and Rimmer's inspirational role as an art instructor.