Amos Green (1735–1807) was a British

painter Painting is a Visual arts, visual art, which is characterized by the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called "matrix" or "Support (art), support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with ...

Life

Green was born at

Halesowen Halesowen ( ) is a market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley, in the county of the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. Historic counties of England, Historically an exclave of Shropshire and, from 1844, in Worcestershire, ...

, near

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

, where his family owned a small property, and was apprenticed to Baskerville, the Birmingham printer. He was chiefly occupied in painting trays and boxes, but soon developed a love of painting and drawing. His specialty lay in flower and fruit pieces, some of the former being imitations of

Jean-Baptiste Monnoyer Jean-Baptiste Monnoyer (12 January 1636 – 20 February 1699) was a Franco-Flemish painter who specialised in flower pieces. He was attached to the Gobelins tapestry workshops and the Beauvais tapestry workshops, too, where he produced cartoon ...

and Jan van Huysum. Later in life he took to

landscape painting Landscape painting, also known as landscape art, is the depiction in painting of natural scenery such as mountains, valleys, rivers, trees, and forests, especially where the main subject is a wide view—with its elements arranged into a cohe ...

with some success. His residence at Halesowen brought him the friendship of

William Shenstone William Shenstone (18 November 171411 February 1763) was an English poet and one of the earliest practitioners of History of gardening#Picturesque and English Landscape gardens, landscape gardening through the development of his estate, ''The ...

, the poet, and of George, lord Lyttelton, both being neighbours. With another neighbour at

Hagley Hagley is a village and civil parish in Worcestershire, England. It is on the boundary of the West Midlands (county), West Midlands and Worcestershire counties between the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley and Kidderminster. Its estimated populati ...

, Anthony Deane, he became so intimate that he was received into his family as one of its members, and moved with them to Bergholt in

Suffolk Suffolk ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Norfolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Essex to the south, and Cambridgeshire to the west. Ipswich is the largest settlement and the county ...

, and eventually to

Bath Bath may refer to: * Bathing, immersion in a fluid ** Bathtub, a large open container for water, in which a person may wash their body ** Public bathing, a public place where people bathe * Thermae, ancient Roman public bathing facilities Plac ...

. He was a good

landscape gardener Landscape architecture is the design of outdoor areas, landmarks, and structures to achieve environmental, social-behavioural, or aesthetic outcomes. It involves the systematic design and general engineering of various structures for constructi ...

. In 1760 he sent two paintings of fruit to the first exhibition of the

Incorporated Society of Artists The Society of Artists of Great Britain was founded in London in May 1761 by an association of artists in order to provide a venue for the public exhibition of recent work by living artists, such as was having success in the long-established P ...

, and exhibited again in 1763 and 1765. On 8 September 1796 he married at

Bridlington Bridlington (previously known as Burlington) is a seaside town and civil parish in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It is on the Holderness part (Flamborough Head to the Humber estuary) of the Yorkshire Coast by the North Sea. The town is ...

Miss Lister, a native of

York York is a cathedral city in North Yorkshire, England, with Roman Britain, Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers River Ouse, Yorkshire, Ouse and River Foss, Foss. It has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a Yor ...

. He eventually settled at Bridlington, but thenceforth did little important work in painting, spending time in sketching tours with his wife. He died at York on 10 June 1807, in his seventy-third year. He was buried at Fulford, and a monument to his memory was put up in

St Mary, Castlegate St Mary's Church, Castlegate, York is a Grade I listed former parish church in the Church of England in York. History The church is located in Castlegate, an historical street in the centre of York. It dates from the 11th century, but the cur ...

at York. His widow published a memoir of him after his death, to which a portrait, engraved by W. T. Fry from a drawing by R. Hancock, is prefixed.

Works

There are three watercolour landscapes by him in the

British Museum The British Museum is a Museum, public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is the largest in the world. It documents the story of human cu ...

, including a view of Sidmouth Bay. Some of his works were made into prints, notably '' Partridges'', as a mezzotint by

Richard Earlom Richard Earlom (bapt. 14 May 17439 October 1822) was an English mezzotinter. Biography Earlom was born and died in London. His natural faculty for art appears to have been first called into exercise by his admiration for the lord mayor's state ...

Family

He is sometimes stated to have been a brother of

Valentine Green Valentine Green (3 October 173929 July 1813) was a British mezzotint, mezzotinter and print publisher. Green trained under Robert Hancock (engraver), Robert Hancock, a Worcester, England, Worcester engraver, after which he moved to London and be ...

, the engraver, but this does not appear to be the case. Benjamin and John Green seem to have been his brothers. The latter, probably a pupil of the eldest

James Basire James Basire (1730–1802 London), also known as James Basire Sr., was a British engraver. He is the most significant of a family of engravers, and noted for his apprenticing of the young William Blake. Early life His father was Isaac Basir ...

, engraved plates from

William Borlase William Borlase (2 February 169631 August 1772), Cornish antiquary, geologist and naturalist. From 1722, he was Rector of Ludgvan, Cornwall, where he died. He is remembered for his works ''The Antiquities of Cornwall'' (1754; 2nd ed., 1769) a ...

's drawings for the 'Natural History of Cornwall' (1758), and also views for the 'Oxford Almanack,' besides some portraits, including one of Dr. Shaw, principal of

St Edmund Hall, Oxford St Edmund Hall (also known as The Hall and Teddy Hall) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. The college claims to be "the oldest surviving academic society to house and educate undergraduates in any university" and was the las ...

William Upcott William Upcott (1779–1845) was an English librarian and antiquary. Life Born in Oxfordshire, he was the illegitimate son of Ozias Humphry by Delly Wickens, daughter of an Oxford shopkeeper, called Upcott from the maiden name of Humphry's mothe ...

, ''English Topography''; Dodd, MS. History of English Engravers, British Library Add MS 33401)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Green, Amos 1735 births 1807 deaths People from Halesowen 18th-century British painters British male painters 19th-century English painters 19th-century English male artists 18th-century British male artists