David James Paintings

William Mellor British, (1851-1931) A River Glen Oil on canvas, signed Image size: 19 inches x 29 inches Size including frame: 27.5 inches x 37.5 inches A lovely landscape painting of a river glen by William Mellor. In the foreground, the river flows over large boulders whilst sheep graze on the banks and beyond the trees in the distance. William Mellor was a landscape painter who was born in Barnsley, Yorkshire in 1851, the son of Joseph Mellor, an artist and Mary Mellor. Initially, he was employed as a loom turner in the weaving industry before becoming a professional artist. He would have received tuition from his father who clearly influenced his style and subject matter. In 1876, he married Mary Elizabeth Watson...

Artist: Inoel (French, Active: Late 19th Century) Title: “Vue de Venise (View of Venice)” *Signed by Inoel lower right Circa: 1875 Medium: Original Oil ...

William Watson Jnr British, (1847-1921) On the Mountains, Loch Awe Oil on canvas, signed & dated 1892, further inscribed verso Image size: 12.5 inches x 18.5 inches Size including frame: 18.5 inches x 24.5 inches A wonderful painting of Highland sheep resting near Loch Awe by William Watson Jnr. Loch Awe is located in Argyll and Bute in the Scottish Highlands and this scene is taken from the mountain side overlooking the loch. William Watson was born in Islington in 1847, the son of the London miniature painter William John Watson (1810-1871) and his wife Caroline (née Butcher). His brothers Charles Watson (1837-1900) and Robert Watson (1855-1921) were also artists. His father seems to have travelled around and after spending time in Brighton, the family moved to Bransford Road in Worcester during the early part of the 1860’s. As well as being taught by his father, Watson received his early training in the studio of Sir Francis Grant PRA (1803-1878). He later became a pupil of Sir Edwin Henry Landseer RA (1802-1873) and Rosa Bonheur (1822–1899). Both Landseer and Bonheur had a great influence on his work and he began specialising in scenes of cattle and sheep. By 1866 he had become a full time artist and began exhibiting at the Royal Society of British Artists. Perhaps to take advantage of the inspiring scenery, Watson moved to Birkenhead, Cheshire where in 1871 he met and married Eleanor Davies who was from Caernarvonshire. Four of their children Sidney Watson (1881-1931), Caroline Ellen...

The Great Fire of London in September 1666 was one of the greatest disasters in the city’s history. The City, with its wooden houses crowded together in narrow streets, was a natural fire risk, and predictions that London would burn down became a shocking reality. The fire began in a bakery in Pudding Lane, an area near the Thames teeming with warehouses and shops full of flammable materials, such as timber, oil, coal, pitch and turpentine. Inevitably the fire spread rapidly from this area into the City. Our painting depicts the impact of the fire on those who were caught in it and creates a very dramatic impression of what the fire was like. Closer inspection reveals a scene of chaos and panic with people running out of the gates. It shows Cripplegate in the north of the City, with St Giles without Cripplegate to its left, in flames (on the site of the present day Barbican). The painting probably represents the fire on the night of Tuesday 4 September, when four-fifths of the City was burning at once, including St Paul's Cathedral. Old St Paul’s can be seen to the right of the canvas, the medieval church with its thick stone walls, was considered a place of safety, but the building was covered in wooden scaffolding as it was in the midst of being restored by the then little known architect, Christopher Wren and caught fire. Our painting seems to depict a specific moment on the Tuesday night when the lead on St Paul’s caught fire and, as the diarist John Evelyn described: ‘the stones of Paul’s flew like grenades, the melting lead running down the streets in a stream and the very pavements glowing with the firey redness, so as no horse, nor man, was able to tread on them.’ Although the loss of life was minimal, some accounts record only sixteen perished, the magnitude of the property loss was shocking – some four hundred and thirty acres, about eighty per cent of the City proper was destroyed, including over thirteen thousand houses, eighty-nine churches, and fifty-two Guild Halls. Thousands were homeless and financially ruined. The Great Fire, and the subsequent fire of 1676, which destroyed over six hundred houses south of the Thames, changed the appearance of London forever. The one constructive outcome of the Great Fire was that the plague, which had devastated the population of London since 1665, diminished greatly, due to the mass death of the plague-carrying rats in the blaze. The fire was widely reported in eyewitness accounts, newspapers, letters and diaries. Samuel Pepys recorded climbing the steeple of Barking Church from which he viewed the destroyed City: ‘the saddest sight of desolation that I ever saw.’ There was an official enquiry into the causes of the fire, petitions to the King and Lord Mayor to rebuild, new legislation and building Acts. Naturally, the fire became a dramatic and extremely popular subject for painters and engravers. A group of works relatively closely related to the present picture have been traditionally ascribed to Jan Griffier...

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...

Artist: G. Rhumont Title: The Harvest Medium: Oil on Masonite Dimensions: 6.5 x 12" unframed, 18 x 12" Framed G. Rhumont was a turn of the century German landscape artist of romantic style with realistic scenes as seen here in “The Harvest”. This bucolic scene of harvesting hay depicts two farmers working in tandem loading the horse-drawn hay wagon in a field just outside their homestead. This early autumn painting...

George Turner British, (1843-1910) A Derbyshire Brook Oil on canvas, signed, further signed, titled & dated 1899 verso Image size: 19.5 inches x 29.5 inches Size including frame: ...

Moonlite, 2021, Daniel Blagg, Oil on canvas, 38 x 58" By meticulously depicting forgotten road signs and roadside debris, Daniel Blagg invites his viewers to re-consider objects th...

William Bromley British, (1816-1890) Gathering Hawthorn Berries Oil on canvas, signed Image size: 27.5 inches x 35.5 inches Size including frame: 33.5 inches x 41.5 inches A love...

Oil painting, boats fishing on a misty morning by Robert Chalmers 1874. Signed and dated by the artist. Canvas size: 69cm x 106cm, Framed size 87cm x 123cm Robert Chalmers, littl...

Henry Garland British, (1834-1913) Driving the Cattle ‘Hame’ Oil on canvas, signed & further inscribed & dated 1895 verso Image size: 32.25 inches x 27.25 inches Size including fram...

Edward Williams British, (1781-1855) The Old Abbey Ruins Oil on canvas Image size: 22.25 inches x 30.75 inches Size including frame: 28.25 inches x 36.75 in...