Benjamin Williams Leader Art

Hubert Thornley British, (exh. 1858 -1898) Ships at Moonlight, Rochester Oil on canvas, indistinctly signed Image size: 13.5 inches x 11.5 inches Size including frame: 19.5 inches x ...

The Travelling Herd, Impressionist Landscape, Oil Painting, Signed English School, mid 19th century Oil painting on canvas, framed Framed size: 14.5 x 18.5 inches Majestic scenic oi...

This late 19th-century oil painting by British painter George William Mote (1832-1909) depicts a shepherd and his flock before an extensive view across the Surrey countryside near Gu...

"Allan Water, Stirling" by F. E. Jamieson (British 1895-1950) signed, lower corner oil painting on canvas, framed canvas: 16 x 24 inches framed: 21.5 x 29 inches Fine quality antiqu...

This late 19th-century oil painting by British artist Walter Waller Caffyn (1845-1897) depicts cattle by a stream near a wood. Caffyn was a Royal Academy-exhibited painter of natural...

John Willes Johnson (1793-1863) The Harbour at low tide Oil on canvas Signed and dated 1829 lower left Canvas Size - 15 x 15 in Framed Size - 16 x 18 1/2 in John Samuel Willes Johns...

Thomas Luny (1759-1837) A fishing vessels at rest in harbour Signed and dated 'Luny 1831' lower left Oil on canvas Canvas Size - 12 x 16 in Framed Size ...

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...

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...

"The Loch Keepers Cottage" by F. E. Jamieson (British 1895-1950) signed, lower corner oil painting on canvas, framed canvas: 16 x 24 inches framed: 20 x 28 inches Fine quality antiq...

Off the Harbour by William Henry Williamson (British 1820-1883) signed and dated 1874 oil painting on canvas, framed canvas: 12 x 18 inches fr...

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...