Henry Brittan Willis
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Henry Brittan Willis (1810 – 17 January 1884) was an English landscape and animal painter. __NOTOC__


Life and work

Willis was born in
Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...
and worked initially with his father, G. H. Willis, also a landscape painter. In 1842, after little financial success in his native city, and on the advice of his father, he traveled to New York, USA, to take up a job in a merchant's office. Owing to ill-health, he eventually had to relinquish the post and return to England, where he initially practiced as a portrait painter in Bristol. In 1843 Willis settled in London where he gained a considerable reputation as a painter of landscapes and animals. From 1844 to 1862, he exhibited frequently at the galleries of 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 The British Institution (in full, the British Institution for Promoting the Fine Arts in the United Kingdom; founded 1805, disbanded 1867) was a private 19th-century society in London formed to exhibit the works of living and dead artists; it w ...
(in Pall Mall) and Society of British Artists (in Suffolk street). He also showed his work outside London at places like the Liverpool Academy of Arts etc. From 1851-57 he was a member of the "Free Exhibitions" society. In 1862 he was elected an associate of the "Old" Watercolour Society (RWS), becoming a full member in 1863; He was a frequent contributor to the society's exhibitions. Willis painted rural landscapes all over England, Wales and Scotland, in both oils and
watercolour 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 t ...
, and often featuring groups of farm animals such as cattle or sheep. He sometimes worked in collaboration with other artist such as F W Hulme. Four of his pictures were engraved for the " Art Union (AUL) Annual" of 1847. In 1849, he published "Studies of cattle and rustic figures" (London: George Rowney and Co.). On 13 January 1873, 30 years of Willis's art work (including "studies from nature and some paintings" was destroyed in a fire at the "London Pantechnicon" in Motcombe street,
Belgravia Belgravia () is a Districts of London, district in Central London, covering parts of the areas of both the City of Westminster and the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Belgravia was known as the 'Five Fields' Tudor Period, during the ...
. Willis died at his home at 12 Palace Gardens Terrace,
Kensington Kensington is a district in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in the West End of London, West of Central London. The district's commercial heart is Kensington High Street, running on an east–west axis. The north-east is taken up b ...
, London, in January 1884, and was buried at Kensington cemetery at Hanwell, Middlesex (now in West London). Willis was eclipsed by
Constable A constable is a person holding a particular office, most commonly in criminal law enforcement. The office of constable can vary significantly in different jurisdictions. A constable is commonly the rank of an officer within the police. Other peop ...
, both in his lifetime and after it, but he has in recent years enjoyed a revival in interest.


Paintings

The following list is not necessarily complete. It shows either the date painted, or, if accompanied by a named gallery, the date at which the painting was exhibited: Landscape with cattle (RA, 1846 - collaboration with
Frederick William Hulme Frederick William Hulme (22 October 1816 – 14 November 1884) was an English landscape painter and illustrator. Hulme was born in Swinton in Yorkshire, the son of Jesse Hulme and Elizabeth Trewolla. His mother was a porcelain painter and ...
) • River Avon, near Bristol, with the Tower of Cook's Folly • A Quiet Homestead in Surrey (British Institution, 1855) • Early Morning - going a-field (
1855 Paris Exposition The Exposition Universelle of 1855 was an International Exhibition held on the Champs-Élysées in Paris from 15 May to 15 November 1855. Its full official title was the Exposition Universelle des produits de l'Agriculture, de l'Industrie et des B ...
) • A sunny scene on the Severn (
1855 Paris Exposition The Exposition Universelle of 1855 was an International Exhibition held on the Champs-Élysées in Paris from 15 May to 15 November 1855. Its full official title was the Exposition Universelle des produits de l'Agriculture, de l'Industrie et des B ...
) • Lights and shadows on the Conway (Society of British Artists, 1855) • Scene in the valley of the Lleddr (Liverpool Academy, 1855)
Harvest Horses
(1856) • A Family Group (British Institution, 1857) • Oxen, Mid-Day Rest • Blessings of a shepherd's life (1862)
Harvesting in Sussex

Harvesting:Sunset
(1863, watercolour) • Highland Cattle (1866) • Ben Cruachan cattle coming south (1867) • Farm Horses (RWS, 1867) • View near Coal Pit Heath (Bristol Society of Artists, 1840)Arts Journal, Sep 1840, p. 146. • Hastings Castle by Moonlight • View of the Castle of Kautz (watercolour) • Drover with cattle watering • Landscape with sheepherder and dog • Landscape with figure on a Log in the Foreground (watercolour) • A Group of Cows (1871). For others see :
Graves, Algernon Algernon Graves (London 1845–1922 London) was a British art historian and art dealer, who specialised in the documentation of the exhibition and sale of works of art. He created reference sources that began the modern discipline of provenance r ...
.
Art Sales from 18th to 20th century, Volume 3
' (Burt, Franklin, New York, 1970).


References


External links


Photo of Willis
(
National Portrait Gallery National Portrait Gallery may refer to: *National Portrait Gallery (Australia), in Canberra *National Portrait Gallery (Sweden), in Mariefred *National Portrait Gallery (United States), in Washington, D.C. *National Portrait Gallery, London, with s ...
) {{DEFAULTSORT:Willis, Henry Brittan 19th-century English painters English male painters English landscape artists English watercolourists 1810 births 1884 deaths Painters from Bristol 19th-century English male artists