Monday, 14 March 2022

Richard Parkes Bonington - part 3

c1827-30 Richard Parkes Bonington by Margaret Sarah Carpenter
oil on canvas 76.2 x 63.5 cm
National Portrait Gallery, London

Born of English parents, Bonington spent much of his short life in France. He studied initially in Calais with Louis Francia before moving to Paris. In 1818 he first met Eugène Delacroix and enrolled in the atelier of Baron Antoine-Jean Gros, where he formed a lasting friendship with Paul Huet, a fellow pupil.

He was one of the stars of the 1824 Paris Salon, where British art was so triumphant, and along with John Constable and Copley Fielding received a gold medal.

Bonington was an inveterate traveller and spent much time exploring the north coast of France. In 1825 he visited London with several French artists, including Delacroix, and in 1826 he travelled through Switzerland to Venice.

He died tragically young from consumption at the age of 26.

Bonington was one of the most important artists of the early nineteenth century, vital to the understanding of French and British art of the Romantic period. His range included history and subject paintings, and landscapes, highly-finished works and sketches, all imbued with a brilliance and sureness of touch which was greatly admired both during and after his lifetime.

For more detailed biographical notes see part 1. For earlier works, see parts 1 & 2 also.

This is part 3 of a 6-part series on the works of Richard Parkes Bonington:


c1825 In the Forest at Fontainebleau
oil on millboard 32.4 x 24.1 cm
Yale Centre for British Art

c1825 Landscape with Timber Waggon
oil on canvas 50.5 x 68.7 cm
The Wallace Collection, London

Perhaps painted shortly after Bonington’s return to France from London in August 1825, though Pointon has suggested the spring of 1827. It is very reminiscent of the paintings of John Constable and, in the feathery trees, of Turner. Like Bonington, Constable was awarded a gold medal at the Paris Salon of 1824 (where "The Hay Wain" was exhibited), and Bonington is recorded as speaking "incessantly" of Turner.



c1825 Le Ferté
oil on fibre board 16.7 x 27.9 cm
The National Gallery, London

c1825 Normandy Coast (attributed to)
oil on panel 27.6 x 39.4 cm
Yale Center for British Art

c1825 On the Brittany Coast, France
oil on board 44.5 x 60 cm
North Lincolnshire Museum Service, UK

c1825 On the Seine – Morning
oil on millboard 30.3 x 35 cm
The National Gallery, London

c1825 On the Seine near Mantes
oil on canvas 31.3 x 46 cm
The Wallace Collection, London

c1825 Study of a seated Mother and Child
pencil on blue-grey paper 12.1 x 9 cm
National Gallery of Victoria, Australia

c1825 Study of a sleeping child
pencil on buff paper 12.6 x 15 cm
National Gallery of Victoria, Australia

c1825 Study of a sleeping child
pencil on buff paper 13.9 x 18.4 cm
National Gallery of Victoria, Australia

c1825 View near Rouen
oil on millboard 27.9 x 33 cm
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

1826 A Duel between Frank and Rashleigh (Rob Roy)
lithograph on chine collé 11.4 x 15.6 cm
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA

1826 Anne of Austria and Mazarin, 1826
oil on canvas  35 x 55 cm
Louvre, Paris


1826 Barges on a River
oil on millboard 25.1 x 35.2 cm
Yale Centre for British Art

1826 Boccadasse, Genoa with Monte Fasce in the background
oil on millboard 25.6 x 33 cm
The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, UK

1826 Coastal Scene of Northern France
oil on canvas 89 x 120.5 cm
National Trust, Anglesey Abbey, UK

1826 Corso Sant'Anastasia, Verona, with the Palace of Prince Maffei
watercolour 23.5 x 15.9 cm
V&A, London

1826 Figures Meeting on a Terrace
watercolour on paper 5.8 x 14.3 cm
V&A, London


1826 Figures Meeting on a Terrace
detail

1826 Figures Meeting on a Terrace
detail

1826 Grand Canal, Venice
oil on millboard 23.5 x 34.9 cm
Yale Center for British Art

1826 Grand Canal, Venice
oil on millboard 35.2 x 45.4 cm
Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, Texas

1826 Lac de Killin
lithograph, after Francois Alexandre Pernot
National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC

1826 Landscape with Mountains
oil on millboard 25.1 x 33 cm
National Galleries of Scotland, Scottish National Gallery, UK

1826 Meditation
watercolour and body-colour with gum varnish on paper
21 x 16.2 cm
The Wallace Collection, London

1826 On the Coast of Picardy
oil on canvas 36.8 x 50.7 cm
The Wallace Collection, London

1826 Parlerre d'eau a Versailles
oil on canvas (details not found)

1826 Peasant Women from Ragusa
graphite, pen and brown ink, and brush and watercolour
22 x 13.5 cm
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

1826 Piazza del Nettuno in Bologna
watercolour, gouache, gum arabic on wove paper
 12.4 x 17.8 cm
Louvre, Paris

Bonington and his friend Charles Rivet left Venice on May 19, 1826 and reached Bologna on May 20. This view of Piazza del Nettuno, with the two emblematic towers of the city, is, along with the watercolour from the Wallace Collection, one of the rare works listed dating from their brief visit to this city. Bonington used the motif of the medieval Asinelli tower, here in the background to the right, in the only line engraving listed in his work, a view taken from Via Rizzoli. Left unfinished by the artist, it was completed by Thomas Shotter Boys for publication by Colnaghi.


1826 Place du Molard, Geneva
pencil and Chinese white  16.8 x 16.1 cm
V&A, London

1826 Raven Cliff, Robin Hoods Bay
watercolour on off-white paper 18.2 x 26.3 cm
Indianapolis Museum of Art

1826 Roadside Halt (Normandy)
oil on canvas 26.4 x 37.8 cm
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

1826 Seated Turk
oil on canvas 33.7 x 41.3 cm
Yale Centre for British Art

1826 The Interior of Sant' Ambrogio, Milan
oil on millboard 34.9 x 42.8 cm
Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, TX


1826 The Salt Marshes near Trouville
watercolour over graphite 10.8 x 22.2 cm
Getty Centre, Los Angeles, CA

1826 The Salt Marshes near Trouville
detail

1826 Old woman, sitting next to a bedridden young woman
watercolour and gouache over lines of graphite and varnish (size not given)
Louvre, Paris

There is an engraving with variants made by Rolls known as: 'The love Sick maid' and a lithograph with the title: 'An old woman'.

This work is a first version of a theme treated again twice by Bonington under the title "The use of tears" (see below). A gouache, kept at the Yale Center for British Art, introduces a third character and a painting with variations is in the Museum of Fine Art in Boston.


1826-27 The use of tears
oil on canvas 40.3 x 32.4 cm
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA


1826 Vues pittoresques de Écosse (
Picturesque views of Scotland): 

1826 Ancienne Porte a Stirling
lithograph (after Francois Alexandre Pernot) 16.2 x 22 cm (image)
Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection

1826 Ancienne Tour Près de Lanark (after Francois Alexandre Pernot)
15.9 x 22.8 cm (image)
Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection 

1826 Brackline
lithograph (after Francois Alexandre Pernot) 15.9 x 22.4 cm (image)
Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection

1826 Chateau d'Argyle
lithograph after Francois Alexandre Pernot
National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC

1826 Chateau de Bothwell
lithograph (after Francois Alexandre Pernot)
National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC

1826 Edinbourg: Vu de la Chapelle St. Antoine
lithograph (after Francois Alexandre Pernot) 16 x 22.8 cm (image)
National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC

1826 Lac de Killin
lithograph (after Francois Alexandre Pernot) 16.6 x 23.2 cm (image)
Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection

1826 Lac Lomond
lithograph (after Francois Alexandre Pernot)
National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC

1826 Vallée de Glenfinlas after François-Alexandre Pernot
lithograph 20.3 x 34.4 cm (image)
Metropolitan Museum od Art, New York


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