"Some years ago, in my travels through England, I found a wonderful old stone gate - mysterious, inviting, mysterious, inviting, suggesting all sorts of exciting possibilities. It was only when I was back in my studio, working on the canvas that would become my well known "Autumn Gate". That I realized I didn't know where the gate led. Was it the entrance to a glorious castle or simply a country road leading to some less picturesque setting? When people asked, I wasn't able to answer because I'd never walked in to take a look.

This question intrigued me to such a degree that on a later trip, Nanette and I made a pilgrimage back to the setting for the stately, ivy draped stone manor house I celebrate in this painting/ And since this subject lay beyond the gate featured in "Autumn Gate", I couldn't resist titling it Beyond Autumn Gate.

Setting aside the history of its inspiration, I also wanted to create a splendid evocation of a home more gracious than the humble cottages I often paint. I'm sure down deep each of us dreams of living in a setting such as this and being, if only in our imagination, 'Lord of the Manor'."

--- Thomas Kinkade