Sally Featherstone
The Ancient Olives
During 2025, I was fortunate to meet and photograph ancient olive trees in Sicily and Puglia. here are some of the resulting graphite drawings made in my studio after my return to Sheffield.
Ancient Olives No 1
Olive tree in Arcadia, Greece. The European Olive originated 20-40 million years ago and thrives in the Mediterranean climate.
Olive trees are long lived and are passed down through families, becoming symbols of wealth. It's impossible to calculate the age of this one but it's probably several hundred years old.
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Signed Original NFS
Giclée art print, A3 £35
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Ancient Olives No 2 (Sicily)
An Ancient Olive tree in the Giardino della Kolymbethra, below the Valley of the Temples in Agrigento, Sicily. This olive tree is more than 400 years old, and still bears good crops of olives every year. Above the tree you can see the Temple of the Dioscuri, a part-reconstructed temple and part of the collection of temples along the sunny ancient hillside now called the Valley of the Temples.
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Signed Original A3 £350
Giclée art print, A3 £35
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Ancient Olives No 3 (Sicily)
Another ancient olive continues to grow at the top of the Giardino della Kolymbethra, almost as far as this valley fulllof orange, lemon, olive and carob trees. The garden was first established in the fifth century BC when the tyrant Terone constructed a water system for the city of Agrigento. After many decades of abandon, the Gardens have now been restored and are managed by the National Trust of Italy (FAI), where all can visit and enjoy this green paradise.
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Signed Original A3 £350
Giclée art print, A3 £35
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Ancient Olives No 4 (Sicily)
Above the Giardino della Kolymbethra are other ancient olives, many of them hundreeds of years old. Their gnarled and wrinkled trunks are a contrast to the smooth sandstone of the temples they grow near. This temple is the Tempio di Guignone (Juno), one of the many temples on this ancient and historic hilltop near Agrigento in Sicily. The tree has been estimated as being between 1,500 and 4,000 years old.
Signed Original £350
Giclée art print, A3 £35
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Ancient Olives No 5 (Sicily)
When you enter the Valley of the Temples, the first temple you see is the Temple of the Concordia, and in front of the majestic marble columns of the temple grows another ancient olive tree, estimated to be around 560 years old and still growing. The temple was erected in 430 B.C. so the olive has accompanied it for many hundreds of years.
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Signed Original A3 £350
Giclée art print, A3 £35
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Ancient Olives No 6 (Sicily)
Millennium olive tree, Motta Sant'Anastasia, Catania, Sicily. This tree, hidden down a rough track called the Via del ulivio in honour of this tree and the many other ancient olives growing here. We found it, after a steep and prickly walk, surrounded by the flowers of tall and prickly acanthus plants, often called 'bear's britches' which grow in profusion here, with its pale, papery flowers protected by green thorns and rough leaves. The tree is estimated to be at least 1,400 years old, a living tree still surrounding the hollow core. It was a privilege to be in the quiet company of such an ancient living thing, growing still in a silent, sunny field, where the only sound was the snorting of a little horse in a neighbouring field.
Signed Original A3 £350
Giclée art print, A3 £35
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Ancient Olives No 7 (Puglia, Italy; Il Grande Vecchio)
This olive tree is more than three thousand (3,000) years old, and is one of the oldest in the province of Puglia, Italy. It was probably a mature tree when Romans roamed the roads and fields, and is one of many ancient olives in this area of Italy. Sadly many of these old trees are being attacked and killed by the deadly Xylella Fastidiosa, a bacterial disease which appears to have no cause.
In September 2025, we were lucky to visit the Masseria Brancati where this tree continues to live, twisted and scarred, propped with bricks and wired for support, but still producing a crop of olives every year. The tree, called 'Il Grande Vecchio' (The Old Man), and he stands in the middle of a grove of olives which contains many other ancient tree.​
Signed Original - Currently not for Sale
Giclée art print, A3 £250
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These three images are all versions of the Old Man, One is in Graphite pencil, the other two, from different aspects are an unusual foray, for me, into colour, using watercolour and watercolour pencil to enhance the underlying graphite drawings.
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Signed Originals - Currently not for Sale
Giclée art print, A3 £200
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