Thomas Hearne (22 September 1744 – 13 April 1817) was an English landscape painter,
engraver and illustrator. Hearne's
watercolours
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 ...
were typified by applying a
wash of subtle subdued colours over a clear outline in fine brush, pen or pencil.
[ His techniques were studied by younger artists such as ]Thomas Girtin
Thomas Girtin (18 February 17759 November 1802) was an English watercolourist and etcher. A friend and rival of J. M. W. Turner, Girtin played a key role in establishing watercolour as a reputable art form.
Life
Thomas Girtin was born in Sout ...
and 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 ...
.
Early life
Thomas Hearne was born at Marshfield, Gloucestershire
Marshfield is a town in the local government area of South Gloucestershire, England, on the borders of the counties of Wiltshire and Somerset. Toponymy derives from the Old English language word "March" meaning a border, hence Border Field wou ...
. When he was five years old, his father, William, died and Thomas moved with his mother, Prudence, to Brinkworth, Wiltshire
Brinkworth is a village and civil parish in northern Wiltshire, England. The village lies between Royal Wootton Bassett and Malmesbury, about north of the M4 motorway and west of Swindon.
The west end of Brinkworth village is Causeway End. T ...
. One of his biographers, Simon Fenwick, suggests that the nearby Malmesbury Abbey
Malmesbury Abbey, at Malmesbury in Wiltshire, England, is a religious house dedicated to Saint Peter and Saint Paul. It was one of the few English houses with a continuous history from the 7th century through to the dissolution of the monasteri ...
proved an inspiration to Hearne's later interest in Gothic architecture. As a teenager he was apprenticed to his uncle who worked as a pastry cook in Maiden Lane, Covent Garden. Next door was a print shop; Miller, the engraver, no doubt facilitated his move to the profession of artist.
In its early years, the Royal Society of Arts
The Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA), also known as the Royal Society of Arts, is a London-based organisation committed to finding practical solutions to social challenges. The RSA acronym is used m ...
offered prizes—which it called "premiums"—for people who could successfully achieve one of a number of published challenges. In 1763 Hearne was awarded a guinea
Guinea ( ),, fuf, 𞤘𞤭𞤲𞤫, italic=no, Gine, wo, Gine, nqo, ߖߌ߬ߣߍ߫, bm, Gine officially the Republic of Guinea (french: République de Guinée), is a coastal country in West Africa. It borders the Atlantic Ocean to the w ...
premium for a still life
A still life (plural: still lifes) is a work of art depicting mostly inanimate subject matter, typically commonplace objects which are either natural (food, flowers, dead animals, plants, rocks, shells, etc.) or man-made (drinking glasses, bo ...
. The next year he received 8 guineas for an equestrian piece. By 1765 he had become apprenticed to the engraver William Woollett, who came to consider him the finest landscape engraver of his day and with whom he stayed for six years.
Early in 1771 Hearne spent six weeks with Woollett and the young George Beaumont
Sir George Howland Beaumont, 7th Baronet (6 November 1753 – 7 February 1827) was a British art patron and amateur painter. He played a crucial part in the creation of London's National Gallery by making the first bequest of paintings to that ...
in Henstead, Suffolk at the home of the latter's tutor at Eton, Revd Charles Davy. For Beaumont it proved the inspiration for his future profession as a landscape painter himself. Beaumont would later accompany Hearne on location to the north of England and Scotland in 1777 and 1778.[Michael Pidgley "Hearne, Thomas" The Oxford Companion to Western Art. Ed. Hugh Brigstocke. ]Oxford University Press
Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...
, 2001.
Career
Before the invention of photography it was the custom for topographical watercolour artists to travel abroad with the Governors of Colonies. In 1771 Hearne travelled to the Leeward Islands
french: Îles-Sous-le-Vent
, image_name =
, image_caption = ''Political'' Leeward Islands. Clockwise: Antigua and Barbuda, Guadeloupe, Saint kitts and Nevis.
, image_alt =
, locator_map =
, location = Caribbean Sea North Atlantic Ocean
, coo ...
after newly appointed Governor-General, Sir Ralph Payne commissioned 20 large landscapes (including ten of Antigua
Antigua ( ), also known as Waladli or Wadadli by the native population, is an island in the Lesser Antilles. It is one of the Leeward Islands in the Caribbean region and the main island of the country of Antigua and Barbuda. Antigua and Barb ...
).[ Hearne remained there for three-and-a-half years, making drawings of the characteristic features of the islands. This work also employed him for a further two years in London, painting ]watercolours
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 ...
from the sketches.[ Hearne's portrait of Payne himself is in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.
In 1777, in conjunction with engraver William Byrne (1743–1805), Hearne began work recording and illustrating the country's historic monuments for ''The Antiquities of Great Britain''. First Hearne produced drawings specifically for the project, then Byrne produced ]engravings
Engraving is the practice of incising a design onto a hard, usually flat surface by cutting grooves into it with a burin. The result may be a decorated object in itself, as when silver, gold, steel, or glass are engraved, or may provide an in ...
after them, and descriptions were added in French and English. The works were issued in series for individual sale from 1778. In 1786 the first 52 plates were bound as a book; a second volume of 32 plates was published in 1807. By this time an individual print sold for 15''s'' compared to a complete set of the proof impressions for 26''l'' 5''s'' (''2011: £'').[ Many of the drawings were exhibited at a gallery in ]Spring Gardens
Spring Gardens is a dead-end street at the south east extreme of St. James's, London, England, that crosses the east end of The Mall between Admiralty Arch and Trafalgar Square. Part of the old liberty of Westminster and the current City of ...
, London. During the extensive tour of Britain which the work necessitated, Hearne studied nature with care, investing his topographical drawings with effects of light and atmosphere seldom attempted by previous draughtsmen in watercolour. He may thus be said to have done much to revive attention to Gothic architecture
Gothic architecture (or pointed architecture) is an architectural style that was prevalent in Europe from the late 12th to the 16th century, during the High and Late Middle Ages, surviving into the 17th and 18th centuries in some areas. It ...
, and to have been one of the founders of the English school of watercolours.
Byrne further worked with Hearne, using the artist's designs for ''Rural Sports'' from 1780.
Influence and impact
Richard Payne Knight
Richard Payne Knight (11 February 1751 – 23 April 1824) of Downton Castle in Herefordshire, and of 5 Soho Square,History of Parliament biography London, England, was a classical scholar, connoisseur, archaeologist and numismatist best ...
, enthusiast of the 'picturesque
Picturesque is an aesthetic ideal introduced into English cultural debate in 1782 by William Gilpin (clergyman), William Gilpin in ''Observations on the River Wye, and Several Parts of South Wales, etc. Relative Chiefly to Picturesque Beauty; made ...
' style, commissioned Hearne to produce several drawings of the grounds of his home, Downton Castle in Herefordshire.
Hearne's art influenced Thomas Girtin
Thomas Girtin (18 February 17759 November 1802) was an English watercolourist and etcher. A friend and rival of J. M. W. Turner, Girtin played a key role in establishing watercolour as a reputable art form.
Life
Thomas Girtin was born in Sout ...
and 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 ...
, both of whom copied his drawings at the houses of Dr Thomas Monro and John Henderson Snr, well-known patrons of the arts at the time. From 1781 to 1802 Hearne exhibited drawings of landscape and antiquarian remains at 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 purpo ...
, London. He was a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries.
Hearne, as part of Regency London's artistic establishment was sketched by George Dance. Dance's highly finished pencil profile portraits were subsequently etched by William Daniell
William Daniell (1769–1837) was an English landscape and marine painter, and printmaker, notable for his work in aquatint. He travelled extensively in India in the company of his uncle Thomas Daniell, with whom he collaborated on one of the ...
and published over ten years from 1804 in '' A Collection of Portraits''. The depiction of Hearne was published in release VI in December 1809. In 1812 Henry Monro painted Hearne in pastel
A pastel () is an art medium in a variety of forms including a stick, a square a pebble or a pan of color; though other forms are possible; they consist of powdered pigment and a binder. The pigments used in pastels are similar to those use ...
. The National Portrait Gallery purchased this portrait in 1912.
Posthumous
Hearne died in Macclesfield Street, Soho
Soho is an area of the City of Westminster, part of the West End of London. Originally a fashionable district for the aristocracy, it has been one of the main entertainment districts in the capital since the 19th century.
The area was develop ...
, London on 13 April 1817, and was buried at Bushey
Bushey is a town in the Hertsmere borough of Hertfordshire in the East of England. It has a population of over 25,000 inhabitants. Bushey Heath is a large neighbourhood south east of Bushey on the boundary with the London Borough of Harrow re ...
, Hertfordshire.
At the 1857 Manchester Exhibition works by Hearne included: ''Old Ruin and Trees''; ''Glasgow''; and ''Holy Island Cathedral''. In 1891 Hearne's work was included in 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 purpo ...
's 22nd annual winter collection of ''Old Masters and Deceased Masters of the English School''.
From the 1900s, art historian and collector Adolph Oppé, took an interest in 18th- and early 19th-century British watercolours, a subject which had been little studied before. In 1996 the Tate Gallery
Tate is an institution that houses, in a network of four art galleries, the United Kingdom's national collection of British art, and international modern and contemporary art. It is not a government institution, but its main sponsor is the U ...
acquired over 3000 artworks from the Oppé collection. Works by Hearne included ''Linlithgow Castle''; ''Hills, Ships and River''; ''Landscape with Road and Castle''; and ''The Moat in Kent, the Seat of Lord Romney''.
In February 1966 '' The Tower of London'' by Hearne sold for 320 guineas (''2011: £''). By 1994 a Hearne Leeward Islands panoramic would expect to reach £10,000. In June 2006 Hearne's ''Rowing on the River Wear Before Lumley Castle'' was sold at Sotheby's
Sotheby's () is a British-founded American multinational corporation with headquarters in New York City. It is one of the world's largest brokers of fine and decorative art, jewellery, and collectibles. It has 80 locations in 40 countries, and ...
for £19,200.
Thomas Hearne's paintings are now owned by many museums and public art galleries across the world, including 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 ...
, the British Museum
The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It documen ...
, the Indianapolis Museum of Art
The Indianapolis Museum of Art (IMA) is an encyclopedic art museum located at Newfields, a campus that also houses Lilly House, The Virginia B. Fairbanks Art & Nature Park: 100 Acres, the Gardens at Newfields, the Beer Garden, and more. It i ...
, the Museum of New Zealand
The Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa is New Zealand's national museum and is located in Wellington. ''Te Papa Tongarewa'' translates literally to "container of treasures" or in full "container of treasured things and people that spring fr ...
, the Yale Center for British Art
Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the worl ...
, the Victoria and Albert Museum, the University of Michigan Museum of Art
The University of Michigan Museum of Art in Ann Arbor, Michigan with is one of the largest university art museums in the United States. Built as a war memorial in 1909 for the university's fallen alumni from the Civil War, Alumni Memorial Hall ori ...
, the Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest
The Museum of Fine Arts ( hu, Szépművészeti Múzeum �seːpmyveːsɛti ˈmuːzɛum is a museum in Heroes' Square (Budapest), Heroes' Square, Budapest, Hungary, facing the Kunsthalle Budapest, Palace of Art.
It was built by the plans of Alb ...
, the Harvard Art Museums
The Harvard Art Museums are part of Harvard University and comprise three museums: the Fogg Museum (established in 1895), the Busch-Reisinger Museum (established in 1903), and the Arthur M. Sackler Museum (established in 1985), and four research ...
, the Ashmolean Museum
The Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology () on Beaumont Street, Oxford, England, is Britain's first public museum. Its first building was erected in 1678–1683 to house the cabinet of curiosities that Elias Ashmole gave to the University o ...
, the Toledo Museum of Art
The Toledo Museum of Art is an internationally known art museum located in the Old West End neighborhood of Toledo, Ohio. It houses a collection of more than 30,000 objects. With 45 galleries, it covers 280,000 square feet and is currently in th ...
, and the Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco.
References
Attribution:
*
Further reading
*
*Hearne, Thomas: ''Antiquities of Great-Britain'' (London: Printed by J. Phillips and published by T. Hearne and W. Byrne, 1786–1807).
* Graves, Algernon.
Dictionary of Artists
' (London, G. Bell and sons, 1907).
*Morris, David. ''Thomas Hearne and his landscape'' (London: Reaktion Books, 1989).
*Hargraves, Matthew. ''Great British Watercolors: From the Paul Mellon Collection at the Yale Center for British Art'' (Yale University Press, 2007) p. 38 ff.
External links
(ArtCyclopedia)
Paintings by Thomas Hearne
(Tate online)
Etchings of works by Hearne
(National Maritime Museum
The National Maritime Museum (NMM) is a maritime museum in Greenwich, London. It is part of Royal Museums Greenwich, a network of museums in the Maritime Greenwich World Heritage Site. Like other publicly funded national museums in the Unite ...
)
Works by Hearne
( Victoria Art Gallery
Portrait engraving of Thomas Hearne
( V&A)
Man Seated On A Fallen Branch On A Woodland Path
(Pencil drawing – Art Renewal Center)
The Monnow Bridge
(swanseaheritage.net)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hearne, Thomas
18th-century English painters
English male painters
19th-century English painters
English watercolourists
English illustrators
Landscape artists
People from Wiltshire
1744 births
1817 deaths
People from Marshfield, Gloucestershire
English landscape painters
English engravers
18th-century engravers
19th-century engravers
19th-century English male artists
18th-century English male artists