John Wharlton Bunney (20 June 1828 – 23 September 1882) was an English topographical and landscape artist of the nineteenth century. His father was a merchant captain whom Bunney, as a boy, accompanied on several voyages around the world. Bunney demonstrated a strong talent for drawing and draftsmanship from an early age. The young Bunney became a follower of

John Ruskin John Ruskin (8 February 1819 20 January 1900) was an English writer, philosopher, art critic and polymath of the Victorian era. He wrote on subjects as varied as geology, architecture, myth, ornithology, literature, education, botany and pol ...

; he studied under Ruskin at the Working Men's College soon after its founding in 1854, and later worked as a clerk for Smith, Elder & Co., Ruskin's publisher. Bunney was able to give up his clerical job and make his living by his art and art teaching by 1859; Ruskin commissioned him to execute a series of drawings in Italy and Switzerland. Bunney married Elizabeth Fallon in 1863. The couple settled in

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico ...

; they had four children, including the

Hampstead Garden Suburb Hampstead Garden Suburb is an elevated suburb of London, north of Hampstead, west of Highgate and east of Golders Green. It is known for its intellectual, liberal, artistic, musical and literary associations. It is an example of early twentie ...

architect,

Michael Bunney Michael Frank Wharlton Bunney MBE (1873–1927) was an English architect who was closely associated with the development of Hampstead Garden Suburb. He was born in Venice where his father, John Wharlton Bunney was doing watercolours for John R ...

. Bunney worked for Ruskin's St. George's Company (later the

Guild of St George The Guild of St George is a charitable Education Trust, based in England but with a worldwide membership, which tries to uphold the values and put into practice the ideas of its founder, John Ruskin (1819–1900). History Ruskin, a Victorian ...

) in northern Italy for the remainder of his life. In his career there, Bunney produced a noteworthy pictorial record of Italy in his era. Ruskin said that Bunney's work was "so faithful and careful as almost to enable the spectator to imagine himself on the spot." Bunney was a friend of many of the

Pre-Raphaelite The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood (later known as the Pre-Raphaelites) was a group of English painters, poets, and art critics, founded in 1848 by William Holman Hunt, John Everett Millais, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, William Michael Rossetti, Jam ...

s, especially

William Holman Hunt William Holman Hunt (2 April 1827 – 7 September 1910) was an English painter and one of the founders of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. His paintings were notable for their great attention to detail, vivid colour, and elaborate symbolism ...

. From 1870 on, Bunney lived and painted in

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...

. In 1876 Ruskin commissioned Bunney to paint a picture that included the entire western facade of

St. Mark's Basilica The Patriarchal Cathedral Basilica of Saint Mark ( it, Basilica Cattedrale Patriarcale di San Marco), commonly known as St Mark's Basilica ( it, Basilica di San Marco; vec, Baxéłega de San Marco), is the cathedral church of the Catholic Pat ...

; Bunney worked on this project through "six hundred early-morning sessions" spaced over six years. (Ruskin was campaigning to prevent a renovation of the west front of St. Mark's, and the painting was part of this effort.) One day during this period,

James Abbott McNeill Whistler James Abbott McNeill Whistler (; July 10, 1834July 17, 1903) was an American painter active during the American Gilded Age and based primarily in the United Kingdom. He eschewed sentimentality and moral allusion in painting and was a leading pr ...

, no admirer of Ruskin (Whistler had bankrupted himself in an 1878 libel suit against Ruskin), reportedly sneaked up behind Bunney as Bunney worked, to stick a note to his back. The note read, "I am totally blind." Bunney, absorbed in his work, remained oblivious to Whistler's prank.Christopher Wood, ''Victorian Painting'', Boston, Little, Brown & Co., 1999; p. 138. The painting now hangs in the

Ruskin Gallery The Ruskin Gallery is a gallery within the Millennium Galleries in Sheffield, England. It houses a collection of minerals, paintings, ornithological prints, drawings, manuscripts and architectural plaster casts assembled by John Ruskin. It firs ...

in the

Millennium Galleries The Millennium Gallery is an art gallery and museum in the centre of Sheffield, England. Opened in April 2001 as part of Sheffield's Heart of the City project, it is located in the city centre close to the mainline station, the Central Library ...

Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire ...

. After Bunney's death in 1882, Ruskin started a memorial fund to benefit his widow and children.

References

External links

J W Bunney on Artnet

Bunney's St. Mark.Venice from the Bacino
(Oil on canvas -

Christie's Christie's is a British auction house founded in 1766 by 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 owned by Groupe Artémi ...

) {{DEFAULTSORT:Bunney, John Wharlton 19th-century English painters English male painters Landscape artists 1828 births 1882 deaths English expatriates in Italy 19th-century English male artists

See also

References

External links