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Artists Who Painted Birmingham Landscapes

I am sorry but I don't have any prints of trams done by Robert Calvert.
 
J M W Turner visited Birmingham in 1794 & 1830, as well as exhibiting a number of his works at the Royal Society of Arts in New St when Aris's Gazette reported "The six drawings of Turner afford an instance of great talent not exactly intelligible to the unpracticed eye". Today I hope that we are more enlightened. Here is the link to the Tate's Birmingham & Coventry Sketchbook & also inset an 1830 view of Birmingham by Turner:
https://www.tate.org.uk/art/sketchbook/birmingham-and-coventry-sketchbook-65871/1
1830 Birmingham J M W Turner.jpg
 
That's made my day BordesleyExile! How wonderful to see the sketches of Birmingham by the great master. Been trying to place the view with pond (sketch #6) but have no idea. It's also interesting to see his Birmingham church sketches (sketch # 73). Think I can recognise Christ Church and St Phillip's and maybe St. John's? Thank you for posting such an interesting item. Viv

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So pleased that you enjoyed this, Viv. I think we are so lucky that Turner visited Birmingham. I wondered if the "pond" was the dammed Rea or the water north of Deritend High St as Turner did record views from the east of Birmingham. I would have thought that the Priory fish ponds had disappeared by Turner's time. That said, I'll be delighted if other people have ideas on the location of the "pond". I thought that perhaps the view in post 51 was from the banks of the Rea, but perhaps other people have suggestions for the locations?
1553 Courtesy of Mapseeker.
 

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David Cox was indeed a famous Birmingham artist but I don't think he painted many local places he is buried at St Peters in Harborne.
I love this painting of haymaking near Warwick Castle as it reminds me of stories my uncle told me. When he was a boy he would spend his summers at a family farm in Saignton, Cheshire. He told me he never worked so hard but loved it.

david-cox-haymaking-near-warwick-castle-the-midday-rest-c-1810.jpg
 
Yes he was certainly a well known Birmingham artist and a member of the RBSA in New Street (now moved to Brooke St in the jewellr quarter) they still have his easel, palette and brushes, he was fond of painting in rural Wales amongst other areas
 
Wendy said:
David Cox was indeed a famous Birmingham artist but I don't think he painted many local places he is buried at St Peters in Harborne.
I love this painting of haymaking near Warwick Castle as it reminds me of stories my uncle told me. When he was a boy he would spend his summers at a family farm in Saignton, Cheshire. He told me he never worked so hard but loved it.

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Lovely rural scene Wendy. I like the contrast of the castle in the background with the labourers taking their break for ale and, maybe pie, in the foreground. You can almost smell the hay!

Another B'ham artist, Samuel Lines, did a drawing of Cox's birthplace, supposedly Deritend. Lines was Cox's teacher. Here's the drawing.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Samuel_Lines_-_Birthplace_of_David_Cox.jpg


Viv.
 
Viv thats a lovely drawing of the place David Cox was born. I think his father was a blacksmith. It does look like a blacksmiths cottage the workshop being the building on the side I would think although can't spot a large chimney.
 
There are several Cox's listed in the 1777 directory in Deritend. John Cox, a plane & saw handle maker at no 22, the Reverend Cox at no 73, and /John Cox, bricklayer at no 90. No blacksmith. John watton is listed as blacksmith & frying pan maker in bordesley, which might mean /bordesley High St, next to Deritend. He could have worked for him, but i would have thought he would hAave worked for himself.
 
Drawing is a wonderful relaxing hobby, cheap as well a few grades of pencil or a gel pen and a sketch book, I reccomend to every one, you might surprise yourself. Eric
 
Does anyone know who painted this picture of Steelhouse Lane dated 1880? I can't find an artist's name on it, surprisingly because it's a lovely picture?
2012-08-17 12.23.26.jpg

Harborne
 
Thank you for posting the picture of Steelhouse Lane, Harborne. The colour pallete suggests the artist might be A Tarlington, but I am entirely happy to be corrected.
 
Tried to put a little colour into it but not convinced it looks better.moss
 

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I can't find anything about A Tarlington on the Web but you sound like a bit of an expert, Bordesley, so your word is good enough for me; thanks very much. Mossy you've made a dramatic improvement to the picture, the people can be seen a lot clearer now, thanks for that.
 
Thanks for the thread, Bordesley. I've had a look and the similarities are striking; this one must be by Tarlington, I reckon. Wish I could get the remainder of them! Not just because of the Birmingham scenes but because I love his style, too.

Harborne
 
Hi Harborne: I first came across A. Tarlington's paintings a few years ago when three or four of them appeared in a special section of the Birmingham Mail. I cut them out and saved them but I am not sure where they are today. I too liked his style and hadn't seen hardly any
artists rendering of Birmingham scenes. There doesn't appear to be much info on line re A. Tarlington but I did find these pictures which were for sale on EBay last year: I would have purchased them had I known about them. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/ws/eBayI...Ifb1oPfQND03gcECxjvyLRk=&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc
 
More recent artists, sadly no longer with us, are James Priddy and George Busby who painted many Birmingham scenes post war, for a time George was a member of the BWS during my tenure, both a wonderful man and superb artist in any medium and subject, noted for illustrating railway books, sadly dying of cancer a few years ago in his 70's.James Priddy's son Norman is aso l a painter in watercours, and has completed many 'Brum' paintings. He was still in the BWS when I left in 2007. Eric
 
Yes thanks Jenny. I think I'll try and get prints from the Art Gallery. It's odd the Steelhouse Lane one isn't among those on ebay and I reckon he probably painted more than five anyway. Time for a browse, I think.
 
Thanks Eric. I think James Priddy lived in Deritend, didn't he, as a boy? Anyway, I'll definitely look them up, too.
 
I have a watercolour of the Vale of Festiniog painted by S.H. Baker. On the back, in Birmingham?/Edwardian handwriting just like that of my mother's, it tells me where he was living at the time:

S. H. Baker,
101 Gough Road,
Edgbaston,
Birmingham

It also says "No. 2" and so there must have been a companion piece. Alas, I don't have it!

I am not aware whether this artist painted Birmingham scenes - although from the previous post it appears that he did at least once - or whether he restricted himself to scenic landscapes. It would be interesting to know.

Chris
 
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Another picture on my walls (in addition to Baker's and a much prized watercolour by a certain Eric!) is a rather nice oil painting entitled "The Gravel Pit, Four Oaks" which is a Sutton Park scene. It is by William J. King. I have no idea of its date although I suspect Victorian/Edwardian from a couple of distant figures which it contains; nor whether King was a Birmingham artist. But he certainly painted what can now be described as a Birmingham scene.

Chris
 

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Samuel Henry Baker lived at 101 Gough Road from sometime between 1876 & 1878 till between 1908 & 1910
 
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