James Aumonier (1832-1911) Sheep in a Landscape, Watercolour

Code: 2482

Dimensions:

'' Homeward Bound ''

Watercolour on paper

17 x 14.5 in (43cm x 37 cm) framed approx

Provenance: The collection of Wilfred Tomlinson

Description:

A fine 19th century watercolour depicting sheep heading back to their farm at the end of day by James Aumonier. Excellent quality impressionist landscape by this accomplished artist who exhibited at the Royal Academy for almost 30 years. Signed lower right. Framed and glazed.

Stamped verso for the collection of Wilfred Tomlinson. Although we have not been able to find any direct information about the gentleman, we have found that this stamp appears on a number of fine paintings by artists including Laura Knight, Dorothea Sharp, Ronald Ossory Dunlop and a 17th century depiction of Galileo.

Condition:

Excellent. The colours are strong and there is no foxing. Ready to hang.

Artist information:

Born in Camberwell, London on 9 April 1832, he was son of Henry Collingwood Aumonier, a jeweller, by his wife, Nancy Frances, daughter of George Stacy; a younger brother worked as an engraver, and a nephew Stacey Auminier became a landscape painter and decorative designer. He was brought up at Highate and High Barnet and at 14 was placed in a business. He attended the evening classes, first at the Birkbeck University, then known as the Mechanics' Institute, and subsequently at South Kensington, where he found employment as a designer of Calicoes in a London firm.

In 1891 Aumonier visited Venice and the Venetian Alps. He became associate of the Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolours in 1876, and was one of the original members of the Institute of Painters. In 1889 he was awarded a gold medal for water-colour in Paris, and a bronze medal for oil painting at Adelaide. He also received a silver medal at the Brussels exhibition in 1897. An exhibition of his water-colour drawings was held at the Leicester Galleries in 1908, and another of his work in oils as well at the Goupil Gallery in March 1912.

Aumonier exhibited for the first time at the Royal Academy in 1871, but continued his work on calico until after 1873, when Sir Newton Mappin purchased a picture shown by him at the Royal Academy, An English Cottage; Home. He concentrated himself on peaceful English countrysides, specially with autumn tints or in the late afternoon.

His pictures included When the Tide is Out, The Silver Lining of the Cloud (both in the Royal Academy of 1895), In the Fen Country, The Old Sussex Farmstead, and Sunday Evening. Sheep Washing was in the Chantrey bequest collection at the Tate Gallery, which also owned his Black Mountains. Aumonier exhibited at the third annual exhibition held at the Carnegie Institute in Pittsburgh in 1898/9 his landscape "A Sussex Hayfield".

Aumonier died in London on 4 October 1911, and his remains were cremated at Woking.