More from the circle of British artist Thomas Collier

Here is the promised followup to my post on artists in the circle of Thomas Collier RI. I got lazy and just copied from my other post for biographical information for the first three artists. The Collier in this post is a bit atypical in style for him. He is better known for rugged landscapes, not pastoral fishing scenes. This painting went unrecognized as Collier's work until I spotted it. It was in a frame that had come apart at the corners and the glass fit very loosely into the frame permitting a lot of dust and grime to cover the inside of the glass and the painting. It was one of the dirtiest paintings I had ever seen from this period. I was just able to recognize Collier's signature so snapped it up. I got it cleaned up with some light dusting, but it could benefit from a thorough cleaning which would freshen it up. I will leave that to some future owner to pursue. As I was posting it, I noticed that my image of it was not very good. It hangs over my desk, so I pulled it down to try to get a better image. No idea why I didn't do that before as I have had it for many years. It is very dusty and part of a failed experiment with acrylic to replace glass, so it only came out so-so. There are a lot of reflections from the crappy acrylic so I may clean it up and try it again, later. Another instance where I apparently forgot to get a decent image before reframing and backing a painting.

**unnamed, Thomas Collier, 10" x 14", watercolor and gouache on paper, signed lower left corner.

(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Collier) Thomas Collier Jr., was born 12 November 1840 at Glossop, Derbyshire, the son of Thomas and Martha Siddall Collier. His father was a prosperous grocer and tea dealer. Little is known of Collier's youth. He attended the Manchester School of Art before moving to northern Wales in 1864 to paint in the footsteps of his idol, David Cox. Collier next moved to London around 1870, where he was elected to the Royal Institute of Painters in Water-colours in 1870. He was not a prolific exhibitor, but collectors and critics then and today consider him one of the masters of the English landscape watercolor. Collier was made a Chevalier of the Legion of Honor in acclaim of a painting he sent to the Paris International Exhibition of 1878. Hardworking, shy and often in poor health, he was enabled by a family stipend to work without concern for popular tastes and travel to observe the English countryside (especially in Suffolk). In 1879 Collier built a large house and studio in Hampstead (Longdon) where he spent the rest of his life tirelessly perfecting his studio craft and receiving prominent artist visitors. He died on 14 May 1891.

**"Arundel Castle", Edmund Morison Wimperis, 9" x 13.5", watercolor, signed EMW lower right corner. This painting hangs in my office on the wall directly opposite the Collier above. As I recall, I purchased this one from a seller in Spain or Portugal. Maybe. Not sure. Too long ago to remember. I beat another collector out of it just by virtue of getting to it first and he has tried to buy or trade me for it for years. It is one of the paintings used by Wikipedia as an example of Wimperis' work. I have not told him but I left it to him in my letter of intent, but he is older than me so that may not matter. If I told him, he might arrange for me to have an "accident".

(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edmund_Morison_Wimperis) Edmund Morison Wimperis was born at Flocker's Brook, Chester, England on 6 February 1835, eldest son of Edmund Richard Wimperis, cashier of Messrs. Walker, Parker, & Co.'s lead works at Chester, and Mary Morison. He came early in life to London, and was trained as a wood-engraver and draughtsman on wood under Myles Birket Foster. He did much work for the 'Illustrated London News' and other periodicals and books. He was considered to be an indifferent figure draughtsman, and confined himself mostly to landscapes when he adopted painting as his profession. He was a member of the Society of British Artists from 1870-1874. He began in 1866 to contribute to the Institute of Painters in Water-colours landscapes in the manner of Birket Foster or of David Cox in his tamer moods, for which he is best known. His work was seen to be old-fashioned in technique. Late in his career he started to paint and sketch with Thomas Collier. This association is considered to have freed him to paint more freely with less of the engraver's attention to detail. The painting above, though painted during his association with Collier, I think mixes both the more antiquated style he learned from Foster and the breadth of nature that he learned from Collier. I have seen other of his works painted around the time of this painting that are the stormy, dark wide landscapes minus people that he is better remembered for. Later in life he also painted in oils.

**unnamed (Welsh landscape), C. S. Millard, 8" x 13", watercolor on paper, signed verso. From a portfolio of his paintings so it had not seen daylight for maybe 100 years when I bought it. The colors are still a vibrant as the day it was painted.

Charles Stuart Millard was born on 22 June 1837 in Weston, Ontario, Canada. Millard was primarily a landscape painter in watercolors and oils. He was one of the founding members of the Ontario Society of Artists in 1872 in the company of such notable artists as Thomas Mower Martin. He was also a founding member of the Royal Canadian Academy. Millard moved to England before 1879 when he was employed as an instructor at the South Kensington Art School, London. Millard was later appointed to the Cheltenham School of Art where he served as Headmaster for many years. Millard spent the remainder of his life in England. He was a close friend of Thomas Collier RI, and it is from Collier's letters to Millard that Adrian Bury obtained much of the personal information about Collier for his definitive work on that artist. Millard even appears in one of Collier's paintings. He died in 1917.

**"Mountain Tops, Aethury y Coed, North Wales", G. Harlow White, 4.5" x 8.5", watercolor, signed lower left.

George Harlow White was born in England in 1817. Harlow was a painter in watercolors and an artist in ink and pencil. His mother, Elizabeth Harlow White, was an artist and her brother was George H. Harlow RA. White attended the Charterhouse School, London, started painting in 1830, and was employed as an artist after that time. He immigrated to Canada in 1871 where he is rumored to have bought a bush farm in Oro Township north of Toronto. More likely he settled near there but traveled the surrounding counties and provinces working as an artist. He made many pencil drawings and watercolors of pioneer life during his time in Canada, for which he is best known today, though he painted for many years in England, Wales, Ireland, and Scotland. It is thought that he lived in Toronto for a time before returning to England in 1878. He was elected a member of the Ontario Society of Artists (OSA) in 1873 and was elected an honorary non-resident member of the Royal Canadian Academy (RCA) in 1880. He showed his work at both societies well into the 1880s. He was an associate of Millard in Canada and Collier and Wimperis after returning to England.

This painting is signed G. Harlow White RCA so can be dated to between 1880, when he was elected to that society, and 18 December 1887 when Harlow died at the Charterhouse, London. The label on the back of this painting shows that it came from the estate of well known Canadian artist and art critic John Thrift Meldrum Burnside. Harlow is well listed in British and Canadian reference books.