DOI article:
Baldry, A. L.: The members of the society
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.27085#0043
THE MEMBERS OF THE SOCIETY
of the Institute of Painters in Water-Colours. Walker was best
known by his paintings of the scenery and architecture of Greece,
in which country he travelled for some while ; and Harding by his
facile but conventional landscapes which he treated in accordance
with a particular recipe that was more effective than intelligent.
He was a popular and successful teacher, and published several
books on the practice of art. In the following year were added a
new member, Mrs. T. H. Fielding, a flower painter, who was the
wife of Copley Fielding’s elder brother ; and a new Associate,
Henry Gastineau, who was known both as a teacher and as a land-
scape draughtsman.
Still more numerous were the accessions during 1822 and 1823.
In addition to certain former members who were reinstated two new
lady members, Miss M. Barret and Miss Scott, were elected, and
seven Associates, Charles Moore, Francis Oliver Finch, George
Cattermole, William Andrews Nesfield, Richard Hamilton Essex,
Samuel Jackson, and John Whichelo. Miss Barret, a daughter of
the elder George Barret, the Royal Academician, painted still life
subjects and made some reputation by her miniatures also ; and Miss
Scott devoted herself to flowers and fruit. The most important of
the men was George Cattermole, then in his twenty-second year ;
he was at this stage of his career known only as an architectural
draughtsman, and was busy with drawings intended to illustrate
John Britton’s great publication, “The Cathedral Antiquities of
Great Britain.” He was represented by one of these drawings in
the 1822 exhibition of the Society, but he sent nothing more till
1829, when he was re-elected an Associate. By this latter date
he had found his way into the romantic and historical class of
subjects by which he became so widely known ; and until his final
resignation of his membership in 1852 he continued to be a prolific
exhibitor of figure compositions of this kind. He was accounted
by his contemporaries as one of the ablest of British water-colourists,
and this opinion has been fully endorsed by later judgment.
Finch, a delicate and poetic landscape painter, who worked in the
earlier water-colour manner, perhaps comes next to Cattermole in
importance. He was a pupil of John Varley, but he followed
rather the style of George Barret. Three others of the new
Associates, Nesfield, Samuel Jackson, and Whichelo, contributed
landscapes. Nesfield, who had been a lieutenant in the army before
he adopted art as his profession, had a preference for mountainous
scenery, and made waterfalls his specialty ; Jackson, a pupil of
F. Danby, painted with much ability picturesque bits in Wales
m xxxi
of the Institute of Painters in Water-Colours. Walker was best
known by his paintings of the scenery and architecture of Greece,
in which country he travelled for some while ; and Harding by his
facile but conventional landscapes which he treated in accordance
with a particular recipe that was more effective than intelligent.
He was a popular and successful teacher, and published several
books on the practice of art. In the following year were added a
new member, Mrs. T. H. Fielding, a flower painter, who was the
wife of Copley Fielding’s elder brother ; and a new Associate,
Henry Gastineau, who was known both as a teacher and as a land-
scape draughtsman.
Still more numerous were the accessions during 1822 and 1823.
In addition to certain former members who were reinstated two new
lady members, Miss M. Barret and Miss Scott, were elected, and
seven Associates, Charles Moore, Francis Oliver Finch, George
Cattermole, William Andrews Nesfield, Richard Hamilton Essex,
Samuel Jackson, and John Whichelo. Miss Barret, a daughter of
the elder George Barret, the Royal Academician, painted still life
subjects and made some reputation by her miniatures also ; and Miss
Scott devoted herself to flowers and fruit. The most important of
the men was George Cattermole, then in his twenty-second year ;
he was at this stage of his career known only as an architectural
draughtsman, and was busy with drawings intended to illustrate
John Britton’s great publication, “The Cathedral Antiquities of
Great Britain.” He was represented by one of these drawings in
the 1822 exhibition of the Society, but he sent nothing more till
1829, when he was re-elected an Associate. By this latter date
he had found his way into the romantic and historical class of
subjects by which he became so widely known ; and until his final
resignation of his membership in 1852 he continued to be a prolific
exhibitor of figure compositions of this kind. He was accounted
by his contemporaries as one of the ablest of British water-colourists,
and this opinion has been fully endorsed by later judgment.
Finch, a delicate and poetic landscape painter, who worked in the
earlier water-colour manner, perhaps comes next to Cattermole in
importance. He was a pupil of John Varley, but he followed
rather the style of George Barret. Three others of the new
Associates, Nesfield, Samuel Jackson, and Whichelo, contributed
landscapes. Nesfield, who had been a lieutenant in the army before
he adopted art as his profession, had a preference for mountainous
scenery, and made waterfalls his specialty ; Jackson, a pupil of
F. Danby, painted with much ability picturesque bits in Wales
m xxxi