William Linton (17911876) was a British landscape artist.

Life and artistic work

Born in

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...

, Linton grew up at Lancaster and

Cartmel Cartmel is a village in Cumbria, England, northwest of Grange-over-Sands close to the River Eea. The village takes its name from the Cartmel Peninsula, and was historically known as Kirkby in Cartmel. The village is the location of the 12t ...

, and went to school at

Windermere Windermere (sometimes tautologically called Windermere Lake to distinguish it from the nearby town of Windermere) is the largest natural lake in England. More than 11 miles (18 km) in length, and almost 1 mile (1.5 km) at its wides ...

where later he spent holidays. At the age of sixteen he was placed in a merchant's office. He however did not like the job. For his own pleasure, he started to copy works by Claude Gellee (Lorrain, 1600–1682) and Richard Wilson (1714–1782). Eventually he made art his profession. Linton's later works still bear strong influence of Claude Lorrain's manner with its investigation of natural light effects, of Richard Wilson with his large-scale panoramic compositions, and particularly of

Claude-Joseph Vernet Claude-Joseph Vernet (14 August 17143 December 1789) was a French painter. His son, Antoine Charles Horace Vernet, was also a painter. Life and work Vernet was born in Avignon. When only fourteen years of age he aided his father, Antoine Vernet ...

(1714–1789) with his inclination to an idealised classical landscape. By 1817 Linton settled in London and started to exhibit at the Royal Academy and British Institution. William Linton (1791-1876)

At that time, his subjects often presented scenery in Scotland and in the North of England, especially in the vicinity of the Lakes. He took an active part in the founding of 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 1823-1824 and was its President in 1837. In 1828-1829, he undertook a long sketching tour through Italy, travelling from the North to the South coast. On his second, more extended tour, he travelled around the Mediterranean, visiting the South of France, Sicily, Italy, Malta and Greece. The result of these journeys was a great number of sketches. William Linton

These sketches were successful on their own right, but also they formed a basis for his large-scale landscape oil paintings which firmly established his reputation as a leading landscape artist in classical style. Delos engraving by William Miller after W Linton

Delos engraving by William Miller after W Linton

Linton's large-scale architectural phantasy 'Delos' (

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 ...

) was engraved by William Miller in 1831. The contemporaries praised Linton as ''"the new Richard Wilson"''. He was compared with his contemporary

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 ...

. The reviewer of the 1851 exhibition at the Royal Academy wrote about Linton's 'View of Venice':

The real aspect of Venice itself and of the Grand Canal has never been more faithfully rendered, even by Canaletti'' (sic!), ''than by Mr W.Linton. We admire the breadth, repose, and sobriety of the tone which are so favourable to architectural effect in his pictures, and Mr Linton never resorts to those artifices of light by which so many modern artists attempt to throw a strained and unnatural interest over their compositions.

Linton had wealthy patrons, and his large-scale painting 'Positano, Gulf of Salerno' (Wolverhampton Art Gallery) was commissioned by the

Earl of Ellesmere Earl of Ellesmere ( ), of Ellesmere in the County of Shropshire, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1846 for the Conservative politician Lord Francis Egerton. He was granted the subsidiary title of Viscount Br ...

. At the same time, Linton also presented himself as a man-of-letters: in 1832, he published a book ''‘Sketches in Italy: being a selection from upwards of five hundred of the most striking and picturesque scenes in various parts of Piedmont: the Milanese, Venetian, and Roman States; Tuscany; and the Kingdom of Naples; sketched during a tour in the years 1828-1829.’''(London, 1832). In the same year, he also published ''Scenery of Greece and its Islands, illustrated by fifty engravings'' and collaborated with celebrated children writer Mrs

Barbara Hofland Barbara Hofland (1770 – 4 November 1844) was an English writer of some 66 didactic, moral stories for children, and of schoolbooks and poetry. She was asked by John Soane to write a description of his still extant museum in London's Lincoln's ...

(1770–1844) on the book ‘''Poetical illustrations of the various scenes represented in Mr. Linton's "Sketches in Italy".'' He was a talented chemist and published in 1852 the ''Ancient and Modern Colours, from the Earliest Periods to the Present Time, with their Chemical and Artistical Properties''. In 1831, he married Julia Adelina Swettenham (1806–1867), a niece to the Countess of Winterton. They settled down in

Marylebone Marylebone (usually , also , ) is a district in the West End of London, in the City of Westminster. Oxford Street, Europe's busiest shopping street, forms its southern boundary. An ancient parish and latterly a metropolitan borough, it me ...

, London, where in the 1840s he opened a Gallery at 7, Lodge Place, London. From the 1860s, he started to sell his works through

Christie’s Christie's is a British auction house founded in 1766 by James Christie (auctioneer), James Christie. Its main premises are on King Street, St James's in London, at Rockefeller Center in New York City and at Alexandra House in Hong Kong. It is ...

. Large sales of his collection were held at the Christie's in 1860, and again after his retirement in 1865. William Linton died in December 1876.The Gentleman Magazine, Vol.223, 1867. His paintings can be found at the

Tate Britain Tate Britain, known from 1897 to 1932 as the National Gallery of British Art and from 1932 to 2000 as the Tate Gallery, is an art museum on Millbank in the City of Westminster in London, England. It is part of the Tate network of galleries in ...

Fitzwilliam Museum The Fitzwilliam Museum is the art and antiquities museum of the University of Cambridge. It is located on Trumpington Street opposite Fitzwilliam Street in central Cambridge. It was founded in 1816 under the will of Richard FitzWilliam, 7th Vis ...

Warrington Museum & Art Gallery Warrington Museum & Art Gallery is on Bold Street in the Cultural Quarter of Warrington in a Grade II listed building that it shares with the town's Central Library. The Museum and the Library originally opened in 1848 as the first rate-sup ...

, and some other collections. The British art historian Colonel M.H. Grant said of Linton: ''“We know of few painters whose life’s work, if collected together into one Gallery, would make a more splendid appearance than this”.''

Published works

* Sketches in Italy: being a selection from upwards of five hundred of the most striking and picturesque scenes in various parts of Piedmont: the Milanese, Venetian, and Roman States; Tuscany; and the Kingdom of Naples; sketched during a tour in the years 1828-1829. 1832. * Scenery of Greece and its Islands, illustrated by fifty engravings. 1832. * Barbara Hofland and William Linton. Poetical illustrations of the various scenes represented in Mr. Linton's "Sketches in Italy". 1832. * Ancient and Modern Colours, from the Earliest Periods to the Present Time, with their Chemical and Artistical Properties. 1852. * A table of colours for oil painting, with notices of their chemical and artistical properties. London, privately printed. 1859. * Colossal Vestiges of the Older Nations. 1862. * Records of Several of Mr. Linton's Works, which have appeared in the London Exhibitions in the course of half a Century; with the opinions of the Public Journals. Also a Biography, with Press Notices of The Scenery of Greece, and Ancient and Modern Colours. 1872.

Literature

* ''

The Art Journal ''The Art Journal'' was the most important British 19th-century magazine on art. It was founded in 1839 by Hodgson & Graves, print publishers, 6 Pall Mall, with the title ''Art Union Monthly Journal'' (or ''The Art Union''), the first issue of 7 ...

'', January 1858. * ''

'', August 1876. * George H Shepherd. A Short History of the British School of Painting.1891. * Colonel M.H. Grant. A Dictionary of British Landscape Painters. 1970. * Christopher Wood. Victorian Painters.1995. * E Benezit. Dictionnaire des Peintres, Sculpteurs, Dessinateurs et Craveurs. Tome 5. * JGP Delaney. William Linton. Oxford DNB.

References

External links

William Linton online
(ARtCyclopedia)
Photo + works of Linton
(Art Renewal center) * , a painting engraved by Edward Goodall for The Literary Souvenir annual, 1828 and accompanied by the poem ''Ancient Song of Victory'' by

Felicia Hemans Felicia Dorothea Hemans (25 September 1793 – 16 May 1835) was an English poet (who identified as Welsh by adoption). Two of her opening lines, "The boy stood on the burning deck" and "The stately homes of England", have acquired classic statu ...

. * , a poem by

accompanying the engraving by William Miller of Linton's drawing of Delos (as above) for The Winter's Wreath annual, 1831. * , a painting engraved by Thomas Higham for Fisher's Drawing Room Scrap Book, 1833 with a poetical illustration by

Letitia Elizabeth Landon Letitia Elizabeth Landon (14 August 1802 – 15 October 1838) was an English poet and novelist, better known by her initials L.E.L. The writings of Landon are transitional between Romanticism and the Victorian Age. Her first major breakthrough ...

. {{DEFAULTSORT:Linton, William 19th-century English painters English male painters Artists from Liverpool 1791 births 1876 deaths English landscape painters Painters from London Members of the Royal Society of British Artists 19th-century English male artists