George William Mote

George William Mote, Near Guildford, Surrey

1888

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 endlessly charming mid-19th-century English oil painting depicts a rural scene with a family, cattle, pond, and cottage. A mother and child pause to observe a drover, perhaps f...

This mid-19th-century oil painting, attributed to English artist Edward Charles Williams (1807-1881), depicts a wooded river landscape with a boathouse, cottage, fishermen and figure...

This evocative early 20th-century oil painting by Scottish artist Robert Russell MacNee RGI (1880-1952) depicts a farm with a track, horses, and figures. MacNee was an accomplished p...

This charming Victorian landscape oil painting is by noted prolific exhibited British artist George William Mote. Mote was very fond of painting landscapes in Surrey and this is a pa...

This lovely British Victorian landscape oil painting is by noted artist Sam Bough. It was painted in 1855 after Bough had moved to Hamilton Lanarkshire in Scotland to focus on painting landscapes alongside fellow artist Alexander Frazer. The location is the ancient forest of Cadzow in Lanarkshire which they both favoured. The landscape is of a rough path through ancient oaks heading towards more dense forest with white cattle grazing to the right. A superb balanced composition and an excellent example of Bough's skill in landscape painting. Signed lower left and dated 1855. Provenance. Christie's stencil verso 519GG. James Bourlet & Sons label verso. Condition. Oil on canvas, 28 inches by 18 inches unframed and in good condition. Frame. Housed in an ornate gilt Victorian frame, 35 inches by 25 inches framed and in good condition. Samuel Bough RSA (1822–1878) was an English-born landscape painter who spent much of his career working in Scotland. He was born the third of five children in Abbey Street, Carlisle in northern England, the son of James Bough (1794-1845), a shoemaker, and Lucy Walker, a cook. He was raised in relative poverty, but with a keen encouragement in the arts. He was self-taught but mixed with local artists such as Richard Harrington and George Sheffield, and was strongly influenced by the work of Turner. After an unsuccessful attempt to live as an artist in Carlisle he obtained a job and as a theatre scenery painter in Manchester in 1845, later also working in Glasgow in the same role. Encouraged by Daniel Macnee to take up landscape painting he moved to Hamilton from 1851-4 and worked there with Alexander Fraser. In 1854 he moved to Port Glasgow to work on his technique of painting ships and harbours. His paintings were noted for their sensitivity to atmosphere and light, were often of cloudy shorelines and busy harbours. He also began supplementing his income by illustrating books, before moving to Edinburgh in 1855. On coming to Edinburgh he lived in a terraced house at 5 Malta Terrace in the Stockbridge area of the city. Following Turner's example, he became a skil ful painter of seaports. He was buried in Dean Cemetery Edinburgh on 23 November 1878. The grave bears a bronze medallion of his head by William Brodie...

William E Harris British, (1854-1930) *Sutton Park Oil on canvas, signed & dated 1884, inscribed verso Image size: 9.5 inches x 15.5 inches Size incl...

The English Rural Landscape by Charles Collins (British, circa 1870's) signed & dated oil on canvas, framed framed: 17 x 24 inches canvas: 12 x 18 inches Provenance: private collecti...