Roy Strong TV - The British Museum online -
His extraordinary pictures are like hallucinations – dreamscapes that take you off into a different world. Sir Roy Strong, The Genius of British Art, Channel 4 2010
Palmer was like so many artists – a prophet before his time. ibid.
Palmer became an artist at a young age and was strongly influenced throughout his career by the work of his friend and mentor William Blake. Palmer’s early work was partly shaped by his interest in the ‘primitive’ artists of the fifteenth and sixteenth century. For a time he lived in the Kent village of Shoreham, whose surrounding countryside became his ‘Valley of Vision’. After this he married and spent time in Italy; following his return to London he worked in watercolour and took up etching. In his later years, Palmer suffered a series of personal hardships – including the death of his favourite son – and ended his life living as a recluse. The British Museum online