John Callcott Horsley

Youth & Age - 19th Century Oil Painting - Royal Academy 1851 - Victorian

1851

‘The River Thames at Leigh by Moonlight’ by Henry Pether (1800-1880). The painting is signed by the artist and dated 1851 and is presented in a bespoke gold metal leaf frame. • Vi...

‘A Day in the Country’ by William Frederick Witherington R.A. (1785-1865). The painting – which depicts a group of Victorian figures on a summer’s day before an extensive landscape ...

‘Fabbriche di Careggine’ by Edmund John Niemann (1813-1876). Fabbriche di Careggine is the name of a Italian ghost village that today lies beneath Vagli di Sotto, a man-made lake in...

‘Tombs of the Sultans’ by Frank Dillon R.I. R.O.I. (1823-1909). The painting – which depicts the ancient Egyptian “City of the Dead” outside the old walls of Cairo – is signed by th...

This idyllic late 19th-century oil painting by English artist Edward William Cooke RA (1811-1880) depicts a west-country cove with two cottages, donkeys, figures, and fishing boats. Cooke was a highly renowned painter of marine scenes and landscapes who exhibited extensively at London’s Royal Academy. From our elevated vantage point, the view extends between two quaint cottages and across the beach before sweeping around the sandy coastline. Crystalline waters lap the shore, where moored craft rest. It’s an accomplished rendering of a challenging composition. It’s enhanced by trees, which essentially ‘frame’ the right side, while a wooded track provides interest on the left. Cooke was a keen admirer of the Dutch old masters, and the spirit of the Golden Age underpins this splendid work. In diaries, he recorded how he travelled by donkey to access elevated spots in the southwest, so it’s conceivable that he did so here. In his catalogue raisonné, it lists a work from the same year titled ‘Bay with Donkeys’. Born in Pentonville, London, Cooke was raised in the company of accomplished artists as both his father, George Cooke (1781-1834), and his uncle, William Bernard Cooke (1778-1855), were engravers. As such, they were associated with a circle of Victorian painters who aided Cooke’s early development. These included the highly regarded marine painter Clarkson Frederick Stanfield RA RBA (1793-1867), who provided frequent advice and inspiration. Indeed, as a teenager, Cooke produced numerous drawings after Stanfield’s works. A precocious talent, by the age of nine, he was already displaying an advanced understanding of engraving, particularly for ships, coupled with a natural, seemingly in-built skill as a draughtsman. Many of his early drawings depict pastoral landscapes after the masters, such as Nicolaes Berchem (1620-1683), Paulus Potter (1625-1654), and Karel Dujardin (1626-1678). In an extraordinary turn of events, in 1820, his advanced abilities led to his first commission when he provided botanical illustrations for John Loudon's 'Encyclopaedia of Plants’. These were followed by drawings published in the 'Botanical Cabinet...

This charming mid-19th-century oil painting attributed to English artist William Traies (1789-1872) depicts a picturesque river view with cascade, figures and cattle. Traies was an a...

This early 20th-century oil painting by British artist David Bates (1840-1921) depicts a rural view in Capel Curig, North Wales. Bates was an accomplished landscape painter who often...

J. Heal The Pool of London on the Thames, oil on canvas, circa 1890 This finely detailed oil on canvas by J. Heal, painted circa 1890, captures the industrious grandeur of the Pool ...