Edmund John Niemann (1813–1876) was a prolific and highly successful British landscape artist working mostly in oils. Nine of his paintings are held in the

Wolverhampton Art Gallery Wolverhampton Art Gallery is located in the City of Wolverhampton, in the West Midlands, United Kingdom. The building was funded and constructed by local contractor Philip Horsman (1825–1890), and built on land provided by the municipal aut ...

Life and work

Niemann was born in Islington, London in 1813. His father, John Diedrich Niemann, was a native of Minden,

Westphalia Westphalia (; german: Westfalen ; nds, Westfalen ) is a region of northwestern Germany and one of the three historic parts of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It has an area of and 7.9 million inhabitants. The territory of the regio ...

and was a member of

Lloyd's Lloyd's of London, generally known simply as Lloyd's, is an insurance and reinsurance market located in London, England. Unlike most of its competitors in the industry, it is not an insurance company; rather, Lloyd's is a corporate body gov ...

, working in the

City of London The City of London is a city, ceremonial county and local government district that contains the historic centre and constitutes, alongside Canary Wharf, the primary central business district (CBD) of London. It constituted most of London f ...

. As a young man, Edmund was employed as a clerk at

, but he decided to devote himself to art and in 1839 settled in

High Wycombe High Wycombe, often referred to as Wycombe ( ), is a market town in Buckinghamshire, England. Lying in the valley of the River Wye, Buckinghamshire, River Wye surrounded by the Chiltern Hills, it is west-northwest of Charing Cross in London, ...

, Buckinghamshire, mostly painting out of doors. Though he especially enjoyed painting the scenery of the

Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the second-longest in the United Kingdom, after the R ...

and of the

River Swale The River Swale in Yorkshire, England, is a major tributary of the River Ure, which becomes the River Ouse, that empties into the North Sea via the Humber Estuary. The river gives its name to Swaledale, the valley through which it flows. ...

, near

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States * Richmond, London, a part of London * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, ...

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other English counties, functions have ...

, many other areas of the

British Isles The British Isles are a group of islands in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-western coast of continental Europe, consisting of the islands of Great Britain, Ireland, the Isle of Man, the Inner and Outer Hebrides, the Northern Isles, ...

are covered in the corpus of his work. Between 1844 and 1872, he exhibited paintings at a wide range of prestigious galleries including the Royal Academy, the British Institution, the

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 Suffolk St, the Royal Scottish Academy, the Royal Institute, the

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

Institute, the Paris Salon, the

Liverpool Academy of Arts The Liverpool Academy of Arts was founded in Liverpool in April 1810 as a regional equivalent of the Royal Academy, London. It followed the Liverpool Society of Artists, first founded in 1769, which had a fitful existence until 1794. Two local a ...

and the

Manchester Academy of Fine Arts The Manchester Academy of Fine Arts (''MAFA'') was founded in 1859 by artists eager to promote art and education. It was originally based in the building on Mosley Street which is now Manchester Art Gallery where annual exhibitions and classes ...

. The first picture exhibited was a view "On the Thames, near Great Marlow, Bucks" – a small canvas shown at the Royal Academy in 1844. Edmund John Niemann - Richmond on Thames

Edmund John Niemann - Richmond on Thames

Niemann and a number of other artists, including

Edward Armitage Edward Armitage (20 May 1817 – 24 May 1896) was an English Victorian-era painter whose work focused on historical, classical and biblical subjects. Family background Armitage was born in London to a family of wealthy Yorkshire industrialis ...

were dissatisfied with the exclusiveness showed by the management of several leading art societies. In 1848 Niemann returned to London for the foundation of the 'Free Exhibition' held in the Chinese Gallery at

Hyde Park Corner Hyde Park Corner is between Knightsbridge, Belgravia and Mayfair in London, England. It primarily refers to its major road junction at the southeastern corner of Hyde Park, that was designed by Decimus Burton. Six streets converge at the j ...

. This exhibition opened with 500 works of art including sculpture. In 1850 this became the Portland Gallery, Regent Street, and Niemann was chosen as one of the trustees and honorary secretary. The society later assumed the name 'The National Institution'. The existence of the society was short lived with 1861 seeing the last of their exhibitions. Niemann lived at Mount Vernon House in Hampstead in the 1850s. His paintings are characterised by great versatility, natural colours, and visual realism, often in the romantic

artistic style In the visual arts, style is a "...distinctive manner which permits the grouping of works into related categories" or "...any distinctive, and therefore recognizable, way in which an act is performed or an artifact made or ought to be performed a ...

J.M.W. Turner Joseph Mallord William Turner (23 April 177519 December 1851), known in his time as William Turner, was an English Romantic painter, printmaker and watercolourist. He is known for his expressive colouring, imaginative landscapes and turbule ...

Corot CoRoT (French: ; English: Convection, Rotation and planetary Transits) was a space telescope mission which operated from 2006 to 2013. The mission's two objectives were to search for extrasolar planets with short orbital periods, particularly th ...

and Caspar David Friedrich. His son, Edward H. Niemann, was also a painter imitating his father's style. Ill for a number of years in his later life, Niemann died suddenly at

Brixton Hill Brixton Hill is the name given to a section of road between Brixton and Streatham Hill in south London, England. Brixton Hill and Streatham Hill form part of the traditional main London to Brighton road (A23). The road follows the line of a ...

, Surrey of

apoplexy Apoplexy () is rupture of an internal organ and the accompanying symptoms. The term formerly referred to what is now called a stroke. Nowadays, health care professionals do not use the term, but instead specify the anatomic location of the bleedi ...

on 15 April 1876.

Works

(dates given where known) *On the Thames, near Great Marlow, Bucks, 1844 *Dovedale, Derbyshire, 1847 *Buckingham Street, Strand, 1854 *Fishing by the Dam, 1855 *Fishing Near Godalming, 1858 *View of Richmond, Yorkshire, 1859 *A charming view of Stapleton, 1860 *Landscape near Rochester, 1860 *Landscape with a view of Lincoln, 1861 *Town and Vale of Ffestiniog, 1864 * Shooter's Hill Farm, Hampstead, 1866 (private collection, Holland, Michigan) *Ffestiniog, 1870 *Windsor Castle from Cooper's Hill, Runnymede, 1876 *Pateley Moor, North Yorkshire, 1879 (with Alfred Frank de Prades)Sheffield Museums Collection https://batch.artuk.org/search/search/search/keyword:pateley-moor--referrer:global-search *Pynford, Near Surrey *An Extensive River Landscape *The Morning Ride *On the Eden, near Carlisle *Bucks Damaged by Flood, Mapledurham, Berks, Morning *The Force, Richmond, Yorkshire *A View in Yorkshire *Goodrich Castle and the Wye *The Old Watermill *Mediterranean Harbour Scene *Ludlow, Shropshire *A View of Nottingham *The Elbor Rocks Looking Towards Glastonbury *View of Whitby *On the Wharfe *On the East Coast *Cranbrook, Kent *Richmond Upon Thames, 1868 *Mountainous Landscape *The Golden Age *Farmhands on Horseback and Cattle at Water's Edge

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Niemann 19th-century English painters English male painters British landscape painters 1813 births 1876 deaths 19th-century English male artists