![Lines family sketchbook - Worcester Beacons, Colwall Oaks](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/ce/Lines_family_sketchbook_-_Worcester_Beacons%2C_Colwall_Oaks.jpg)
Henry Harris Lines (born 1800 or 1801, died 1889) was a landscape artist and archaeologist, and the eldest son of Birmingham artist and drawing master
Samuel Lines
Samuel Lines (1778 – 22 November 1863) was an English designer, painter and art teacher, and an early member of the Birmingham School of landscape painters.
A significant figure in the development of art in Birmingham during its rapid grow ...
(1778–1863). There are a number of Henry's works stored in the permanent collections of various provincial museums and art galleries including
Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery
Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery (BM&AG) is a museum and art gallery in Birmingham, England. It has a collection of international importance covering fine art, ceramics, metalwork, jewellery, natural history, archaeology, ethnography, local ...
,
Worcester City Art Gallery and Museum and the
Royal Birmingham Society of Artists
The Royal Birmingham Society of Artists or RBSA is an art society, based in the Jewellery Quarter in Birmingham, England, where it owns and operates an art gallery, the RBSA Gallery, on Brook Street, just off St Paul's Square. It is both a ...
(RBSA) Gallery. As well as at the Birmingham Society of Arts (the precursor to the RBSA), Henry also exhibited at the
Royal Academy
The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly in London. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its pur ...
,
British Institution and
Society of British Artists
The Royal Society of British Artists (RBA) is a British art body established in 1823 as the Society of British Artists, as an alternative to the Royal Academy.
History
The RBA commenced with twenty-seven members, and took until 1876 to reach fif ...
. The Wright family's patronage of the Lines family is also evident in William Rostill Lines's (Henry's younger brother) sculpture ''Bust of Mr. Thomas Wright Hill'' that was exhibited at the Birmingham Society of Arts Exhibition in 1829.
Early life
He had four younger siblings: William Rostill Lines (1802–1846),
Samuel Rostill Lines
Samuel Rostill Lines (15 January 1804 – 9 November 1833; sometimes listed as Samuel Restell Lines) was an English painter and illustrator.
Born in Birmingham, he was the third son of Samuel Lines, one of the founders of the academy for the ...
(1803–1833), Edward Ashcroft Lines (1807–1875) and
Frederick Thomas Lines
Frederick Thomas Lines (26 July 1808 – 10 April 1898) was an English portrait painter in addition to experimenting in studies from nature and landscape. Lines was known to be a master of the medium of watercolour.
Lines was the youngest s ...
(1808–1898). The extent of Henry's early artistic education is uncertain, but it is highly likely that he was taught to draw by his father. Henry Harris also attended
Thomas Wright Hill
Thomas Wright Hill (24 April 1763 in Kidderminster – 13 June 1851 in Tottenham) was a mathematician and schoolmaster. He is credited as inventing the single transferable vote in 1819. His son, Rowland Hill, famous as the originator of the m ...
's Hilltop School, which was located in central Birmingham, a short distance from the family's home on Temple Row West.
Career
Henry exhibited at the Royal Academy for the first time in 1818 (''Caesar's Tower'', ''Kenilworth Castle''). Between 1818 and 1846, he exhibited eighteen works at the Royal Academy in total, exceeding in number those of Samuel (senior) and Frederick Thomas Lines (Henry's youngest brother) combined. All works were landscapes, spanning the Midlands to Cornwall and Yorkshire. He was also acquainted with celebrated landscapists such as the Birmingham artist
David Cox. It is suggested in Cox's letters that they had visited Yorkshire together.
Henry exhibited at the Birmingham Society of Arts in their first Exhibition of Modern Works in 1827. He joined their Committee of Artists in 1828, and became a full Member of the Society in 1830. He remained a Member until approximately 1856, and was listed as an annual subscriber from 1858 onwards, alongside his younger brothers, Frederick Thomas and Edward Ashcroft. He had sixteen works accepted in the first exhibition – all landscapes and topographical views of Yorkshire, North Wales and the Midlands. He later travelled to Switzerland in approximately 1846, returning to exhibit in Birmingham a series of Swiss-inspired landscapes.
Worcester
![St](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fa/St._Martin%E2%80%99s_Church_Holt_by_Henry_Harris_Lines.jpg)
Henry Harris moved to Worcester in 1832 because of the cholera epidemic that was spreading across the Midlands. He lived at Bath Road but also retained his address in Birmingham until 1838. From that year onwards, his addresses remained in the Worcester area. Worcester was previously seen as lacking in intellectual activity, as highlighted by Henry Harris' school friend
Edwin Lees
Edwin Lees (1800–1887) was a British botanist and antiquarian.
Life
He was born at Worcester in 1800, was educated at Birmingham
Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan ...
who originally trained as a printer and stationer but later turned to the sciences and natural history. Geoffrey Potter notes in Henry's biography that Lees, upon visiting Worcester in 1828, noticed 'Worcester's lack of the societies and institutions necessary for a man of refined intellect', which 'was remedied by a Mr. Jackson, who delivered a course of lectures on the subject of Natural Philosophy'.
From this emerged the
Worcester Literary and Scientific Society, which became the exemplar for other societies within the region, such as the
Worcestershire Natural Society and the
Worcester Archaeological Club
Worcester may refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* Worcester, England, a city and the county town of Worcestershire in England
** Worcester (UK Parliament constituency), an area represented by a Member of Parliament
* Worcester Park, London, Englan ...
. Henry Harris thrived in this hub of activity and it was here that his work as both archaeologist and artist excelled.
Personal life
Henry Harris married Emma Lacey and had three daughters: Elizabeth (b. 1825), Emma (b. 1828) and Catherine (b. 1829). It seems that all his daughters were given the opportunity to study art, with Elizabeth and Catherine being the two strongest contenders. Elizabeth was noted to have ‘a good knowledge of both art and music’ but Catherine was the only daughter to exhibit alongside her father at the Birmingham Society of Arts in 1860 and 1862, during a period where very few female artists exhibited their works. However, before her artistic career could be fulfilled, Catherine died shortly after her exhibition at the Birmingham Society of Artists in 1863, from a ‘visitation of God’ at her grandfather’s home.
Archaeology
In Worcester, Henry Harris was also embarked upon a new career as an amateur archaeologist and
antiquarian
An antiquarian or antiquary () is an fan (person), aficionado or student of antiquities or things of the past. More specifically, the term is used for those who study history with particular attention to ancient artifact (archaeology), artifac ...
. He spent much of his later years surveying his local
Malvern Hills
The Malvern Hills are in the English counties of Worcestershire, Herefordshire and a small area of northern Gloucestershire, dominating the surrounding countryside and the towns and villages of the district of Malvern. The highest summit aff ...
, meticulously taking measurements and visually recording the ancient and physical features. Besides his surveys of the Malvern Hills, he was also known to travel alone to North Wales every summer to explore the ancient stone monuments. This was a practice that he continued throughout his seventies, relenting only in his early eighties because of his failing eyesight. His antiquarian interests are also seen in his architectural studies of church interiors.
Death
Henry Harris died in Worcester on 20 February 1889, having suffered a 'paralytic stroke' in December 1887 which left him 'confined to his bed'.
Further reading
* (Ph.D. thesis)
References
External links
RBSA blog post
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lines, Henry Harris
1800s births
1889 deaths
19th-century British archaeologists
19th-century British painters
Artists from Birmingham, West Midlands
Members and Associates of the Royal Birmingham Society of Artists
English landscape painters
English antiquarians
Artists from Worcester, England