John Berney (or Barney) Crome (1 December 1794 – 15 September 1842) was an English
landscape and
marine painter associated with the
Norwich School of painters
The Norwich School of painters was the first provincial art movement established in Britain, active in the early 19th century. Artists of the school were inspired by the natural environment of the Norfolk landscape and owed some influence to the wo ...
. He is sometimes known by the nickname 'Young Crome' to distinguish him from his father John, known as '
Old Crome'.
Early life
John Berney Crome was born in
Norwich
Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. Norwich is by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. As the seat of the See of Norwich, with ...
,
Norfolk
Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...
, on 8 December 1794, and christened on 14 December at
St George's Church, Colegate, Norwich. He was the eldest of the seven surviving children of John Crome (1768–1821), painter, and his wife, Phoebe Berney (also known as Pheobe Barney). His father was a distinguished landscape artist and a founder of the Norwich Society of Artists.
Realising his own educational deficiency, he determined his son should have a good education, and John Berney Crome attended
Norwich School
Norwich School (formally King Edward VI Grammar School, Norwich) is a selective English independent day school in the close of Norwich Cathedral, Norwich. Among the oldest schools in the United Kingdom, it has a traceable history to 1096 as a ...
– the Grammar School - until he was eighteen. He was educated when Dr. Samuel Forster and the Rev. Edward Valpy were headmasters at the school.
At the same time, with ambitions of becoming an artist, he accompanied his father on sketching expeditions. In 1816 he went with his school friend George Vincent, and a doctor, Benjamin Steel (who afterwards married Crome’s sister) on an excursion to Paris.
Artistic career
Crome assisted his father in teaching and was appointed as landscape painter to the
Duke of Sussex
Duke of Sussex is a substantive title, one of several royal dukedoms, that has been created twice in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It is a hereditary title of a specific rank of nobility in the British royal family. It takes its name fr ...
. He became a member of the Norwich Society of Artists and exhibited many of his pictures there between 1806 and 1830. He was appointed Vice-President of the Society in 1818, and subsequently President on several occasions.
On the death of John Crome in April 1821, John Berney Crome continued his father's art teaching practice and occupied the family house in Gildengate Street, Norwich, to which he added a studio. In conjunction with
John Sell Cotman
John Sell Cotman (16 May 1782 – 24 July 1842) was an English marine and landscape painter, etcher, illustrator, author and a leading member of the Norwich School of painters.
Born in Norwich, the son of a silk merchant and lace dealer, Co ...
, he took a lively interest in the Norwich Society of Artists in 1828, which had closed in 1825 after the demolition of its old premises. Between 1811 and 1843 he had many works exhibited at the
Royal Academy,
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 ...
in London, and made trips to the continent, drawing and painting in France, Holland, Belgium and Italy. His work shows the influence of his father, and like his father he painted many moonlight effects, his 1834 ''River Scene By Moonlight'' being a prime example.
As a result of his extravagant habits, Crome was made
bankrupt
Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debtor ...
in 1831, and the contents of his father's house had to be sold off. Many paintings made by both father and son were disposed of at this time. He subsequently moved to
Great Yarmouth in 1835, where he continued to teach drawing. An 'incurable illness'
was the cause of his death on 15 September 1842.
Crome was twice married, but had no children.
He was known as a man of genial character and jovial disposition, and his portrait, one of two executed by H B Love, hangs in the Castle Museum, Norwich.
Works
John Berney Crome worked in
oils
An oil is any nonpolar chemical substance that is composed primarily of hydrocarbons and is hydrophobic (does not mix with water) & lipophilic (mixes with other oils). Oils are usually flammable and surface active. Most oils are unsaturate ...
,
watercolours
Watercolor (American English) or watercolour (British English; see spelling differences), also ''aquarelle'' (; from Italian diminutive of Latin ''aqua'' "water"), is a painting method”Watercolor may be as old as art itself, going back to ...
and pencil, painting
coastal
The coast, also known as the coastline or seashore, is defined as the area where land meets the ocean, or as a line that forms the boundary between the land and the coastline. The Earth has around of coastline. Coasts are important zones in ...
and rural scenes, both at home and abroad. He made frequent visits to the continent, and the subjects of some of his pictures were taken from places in France, Holland, Belgium, and Italy.
Crome's paintings can bear a strong resemblance to those of his father, and also of fellow Norwich School artist
George Vincent, and their works have at times been confused with each others.
[Cundall, ''The Norwich School'', p. 6.]
Between 1811 and 1843 he exhibited seven works at the Royal Academy, thirty-five at the British Institution, and fifty-five at the Society of British Artists.
Many of his works were exhibited at the Edinburgh Society of Artists and the Society of British Artists. Norfolk Museums has a significant collection of his work, most housed in the Castle Museum, and his paintings are also currently kept by the Tate Gallery, the Yale Centre for British Art, the UK Government Art Collection, the Sheffield Museums, the Royal Albert Memorial Museum, Oxford Town Hall, the Williamson Art Gallery & Museum, the Barber Institute of Fine Arts, and the English Heritage Collection, Kenwood.
While John Berney Crome’s paintings have never reached the status associated with the great English landscape artists, some have fetched almost $10,000, and in 2018 a relatively small (perhaps 37 cm by 32 cm) oil on canvas painting of a shoreline landscape marine scene was offered for sale through Madrigallery in the USA for $35,000.
Notes
References
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External links
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45 works by John Berney Crome(and a number of portraits of the artist) in the Norfolk Museums Collections
1 work (''Moonlight'' (undated)) by John Berney Cromeat the
Tate Gallery
Tate is an institution that houses, in a network of four art galleries, the United Kingdom's national collection of British art, and international modern and contemporary art. It is not a government institution, but its main sponsor is the U ...
35 works by John Berney Cromefrom
Art UK2 works by John Berney Cromein the
Yale Center for British Art
Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the worl ...
,
New Haven, Connecticut
New Haven is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound in New Haven County, Connecticut and is part of the New York City metropolitan area. With a population of 134 ...
96 works by John Thirtleat
Artnet13 works by John Berney Cromeat the
British Museum
The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...
Works by (or attributed to) John Berney Cromesold at auction according to Invaluable
{{DEFAULTSORT:Crome, John Berney
19th-century English painters
1794 births
1842 deaths
British marine artists
English male painters
English watercolourists
Landscape artists
People educated at Norwich School
Artists from Norwich
19th-century English male artists