Samuel Bough Paintings

A beautiful mid 19th century English Victorian oil on board depicting a tranquil landscape with a farmer ploughing the land in the distance, by Samuel Bough. This work is signed and...

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...