Lynne About Loughborough: John Boultbee

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Sunday, 29 March 2020

Artists in Loughborough, Leicestershire, and Rutland

Author and local historian Tony Jarram with the Liberty Bell, Philadelphia, 2020

So, following on from the guest post on Zeppelins in Loughborough, written by expert Ian Castle, that appeared on this blog in February, tonight my guest blogger is local man, Tony Jarram, well-known to many of my readers, I'm sure. Here's what Tony has to say about artists with connections to Loughborough ...

Artists associated with Loughborough, Leicestershire, and Rutland - Tony Jarram

My first introduction to the great artists was as a child when the shops displayed huge boxes of chocolates decorated by a famous painting [see Editor's note, below].

Hugo Meynell, Joshua Reynolds

I recall a few years later, at Garendon School, being asked by my art teacher, Mr Weston*, for the name of my favourite artist. “John Constable” was my reply. “Chocolate box painter” he muttered. At the next lesson he came over to my desk with a print of Constable’s Hay Wain. He placed a piece of card over the landscape leaving only the sky showing. “That’s what made Constable a great artist”, he said. I never forgot that and always look at the sky on works of art before the scene below.

I had not realised at the time that John Constable (1776-1837) had been in Leicestershire and had been one of many artists, the like of who had visited Sir George Beaumont at Coleorton Hall. Others had included David Wilkie, Thomas Wilkie, Thomas Girtin, Benjamin Haydon and George Morland. When Sir Joshua Reynolds (1723-1792) died Beaumont built a cenotaph at Coleorton. Constable painted this memorial and “The Cenotaph” is now displayed in the National Gallery. George Howland Beaumont (1753-1827) was a most accomplished artist and played a crucial part in the creation of the National Gallery, making the first bequest of paintings from his collection. He was a friend of the Lake Poets especially Wordsworth.

The two most significant Leicestershire artists are John Ferneley and John Boultbee. Ferneley was born in Thrussington in 1728 and following his death in Melton was buried back in the village in 1860. He was for three years from 1801 the student of Ben Marshall (who is thought to have been born in Barkby). Ferneley’s works include “Melton Horse Fair” (exhibited at Leicestershire County Hall at Glenfield),“The Quorn at Quenby” (1823) an oil sketch of which is in the collection of Leicestershire Museums, and “Grant family at Melton” (1823) also in the same collection.

John Boultbee lived in Loughborough and painted mainly horses but was a very accomplished portrait artist and his study of Daniel Lambert is probably his best-known work. This study of reputably Leicestershire’s largest man is part of the Leicestershire Museums collection that also includes “Robert Bakewell mounted on a Bay Cob”.

Boultbee’s paintings of Bakewell’s animals from his pioneer breeding programmes are of significant importance and include paintings of Leicestershire Longwool Sheep and Shire Horses. Boultbee died in 1812 but his son Thomas Joseph who was born in Loughborough in 1787 was also an artist and exhibited at Liverpool academy.

In brief, other artists who have made their mark include, Anstey born, Lemuel Francis Abbot (1760-1802) who was an accomplished, London-based, portrait painter who painted, among others, Lord Nelson.

It is important to note that the artists mentioned were operating in Leicestershire (and Rutland) as their main benefactors were here. These included, in addition to Beaumont, the Pochins of Barkby, The Duke of Rutland and the Packe’s of Prestwold Hall.

This brief account can only cover the most notable artists, but Leicestershire has over the years produced some most talented works in a variety of forms.

The final reference in this note is of the architectural sketches of the London architect William Railton (1800-1877), the designer of Nelson’s column who sketched some of his Leicestershire buildings. Known surviving examples of these drawings include Beaumanor Hall; a proposed national school at Shepshed (thought to be St Botolph’s) and the Herrick Alms Houses at Woodhouse.

* Raymond John Weston, art teacher at Garendon High School 1957-1992, died on 2 April 2020. There are hundreds of tributes to him on this website.

References and Further Reading:

Evans I.M., 1976. Charnwood’s Heritage. Leicestershire Museums, Art Galleries and Records Service

Gaunt William, 1958 (revised edition 1959). The Observer’s Book of Painting and Graphic Art. Frederick Warne & Co. Ltd. London (Tony’s first art book).

Websites (not exhaustive!):

ArtUK. Lemuel Francis Abbott. [Online]. https://www.artuk.org/discover/artists/abbott-lemuel-francis-17601803 [Accessed: 29 March 2020]

Blackbrook Gallery. John Boultbee (1742-1812). [Online]. https://www.blackbrookgallery.co.uk/artist-john-boultbee [Accessed: 29 March 2020]

Boultbee, Richard (2012). The history of the Boultbee family. [Online].

https://boultbee.info/bfh/viis2.htm#p86 [Accessed: 29 March 2020]

Encyclopaedia Britannica (2020). Benjamin Robert Haydon. [Online].

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Benjamin-Robert-Haydon [Accessed: 29 March 2020]

Encyclopaedia Britannica (2019). George Morland. [Online]. https://www.britannica.com/biography/George-Morland [Accessed: 29 March 2020]

Encyclopaedia Britannica (2020). John Constable: London years. [Online]. https://www.britannica.com/biography/John-Constable/London#ref828330 [Accessed: 29 March 2020]

Encyclopaedia Britannica (2019). Sir David Wilkie. [Online].

https://www.britannica.com/biography/David-Wilkie [Accessed: 29 March 2020]

Encyclopaedia Britannica (2020). Thomas Girtin: British artist. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Thomas-Girtin [Accessed: 29 March 2020]

Genealogy from [RHS]. Thomas Joseph Boultbee. [Online]. https://www.boultbee.info/webtrees/individual.php?pid=I192&ged=RHB&themecolor=ash&theme=xenea [Accessed: 29 March 2020]

Jarram, Tony [2018]. William Railton (1800-1870): architect of St Paul’s church, Woodhouse Eaves. [Online]. http://www.stpaulsheritage.org/resources/19)-Railton-(website).pdf St Paul’s Heritage. [Accessed: 29 March 2020]

Sewter. A.C. (1955). Leicestershire artists. [Online]. In: Hoskins, W.G, & McKinley, R.A. (eds.) A history of the county of Leicester: Vol.III. Victoria County History. pg. 218-242 [Accessed: 30 March 2020]

The National Gallery. John Constable (1776-1837). [Online]. https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/ [Accessed: 29 March 2020]

The National Gallery. David Wilkie (1785-1841). [Online]. https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/artists/david-wilkie [Accessed: 29 March 2020]

The National Gallery. Sir Joshua Reynolds (1723-1792). [Online].

https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/artists/sir-joshua-reynolds [Accessed: 29 March 2020]

Visit Leicester. See & do: New Walk Museum & Art Gallery. [Online]. https://www.visitleicester.info/see-and-do/new-walk-museum-and-art-gallery-p700961 [Accessed: 29 March 2020]

Wikipedia. Benjamin Marshall. [Online]. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Marshall [Accessed: 29 March 2020]

Wikipedia. John Boultbee (artist). [Online]. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Boultbee_(artist) [Accessed: 29 March 2020]

Wikipedia. John Ferneley. [Online]. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Ferneley [Accessed: 29 March 2020]

Wikipedia. Thomas Girtin. [Online]. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Girtin [Accessed: 29 March 2020]

Editor’s note

As Tony intimates, the term ‘chocolate box art’ often refers to works of art reproduced on the lid of boxes of chocolate, and serves to dismiss the art as somehow inferior. There’s a short article on Wikipedia that tells you a little more about this topic.

For animal paintings like those around at the time of Robert Bakewell, pop over to the Althorp House website and tour the house, looking particularly at the paintings in the Sunderland Room.

Another Leicestershire artist of note was John Flower, who at one time worked from the top floor of a property on New Walk.

Doing an image search on the internet will bring up quite a lot of images of paintings by all the artists mentioned above in Tony’s great article.

Author:

Tony was born in Loughborough in 1949 and is a regular on the local history speaker circuit with subjects including “The Day Buffalo Bill came to Town”, “Lacemakers and Luddites” and “The architect “William Railton.” He was one of the founder members of The Friends of Charnwood Museum and served on the committee for the first 10 years. Tony was one of the two local historians who were asked to research the history of the Brush Electrical Engineering Company for its centenary in 1979 and the previous year wrote the book “Brush Aircraft – Production at Loughborough”.

Other published work includes the co-written “The Lacemakers’ Story” for the Friends of Charnwood Museum, and also the “Luddite Trail”. Recent work has included research, initially for St Paul’s church Woodhouse Eaves, on the work of the architect William Railton.

Tony has undertaken research for authors and museums in both the UK and USA on a variety of subjects including aviation, tramcars, early steam locomotives and naval history. Tony was given an Honorary Membership of Loughborough Library Local Studies and is a campaigner to recognise Loughborough’s heritage. He is also a keen amateur artist and between local history and transport studies enjoys visiting art galleries.

You are welcome to quote passages from any of my posts, with appropriate credit. The correct citation for this looks as follow:

Jarram, Tony (2020). Artists in Loughborough, Leicestershire and Rutland. Available from: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2020/03/artists-in-loughborough-leicestershire.html [Accessed 29 March 2020]

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Lynne

Sunday, 18 September 2016

Loughborough and Althorp

Sorry for the absence this last couple of weeks: I've been exceptionally busy with one thing or another, so haven't had time to post.

After the events of this weekend I feel vindicated for concentrating my recent blog efforts on connections ... but more of that next week. In the meantime ...

Loughborough and Althorp? I mean, really? Really???

So, a couple of weekends ago I was off celebrating my first wedding anniversary, and we decided to go and visit Althorp Hall. I've been meaning to go for a very long time (19 years, to be precise) but for whatever reason have never quite made it. As I said, this weekend we did get there, and we were not disappointed!

It was the last weekend that the hall was open for the season (apart from the following weekend which would be the Althorp Food Festival in the grounds, but I don't think the hall was open), so we were lucky to catch it. Sadly, it wasn't a beautiful sunny day, in fact it was quite cold and very overcast, but this didn't put us off, and we arrived around midday.

I had thought that visiting Althorp would be a fairy safe thing to do, and even I wouldn't be able to find any connections with Loughborough whatsoever! But, of course, I was wrong! I wasn't looking for connections, so I guess this is probably why they jumped out at me as we walked around the house and gardens! Here's a selection of connections below: some are a bit tenuous, but ...

We approached the house via a really long drive that reminded me of the approach to Calke Abbey, in South Derbyshire, which followed along the length of the estate wall. Beautiful wall, actually, that once we were very close to the house, dipped down so that the view from and to the hall was uninterrupted (I think it's called a ha-ha).

The wall at its lowest point

The view of the house and from the house over the wall

Once we'd paid our entry fee, we walked along the path to the stableyards, where we had a cup of tea in the most fantastic setting of the horse stables which was adorned with the names of the 100 horses that had lived there!

The stalls with seating for diners

The servery with saddles (there is some significance of the 2 saddles, but I've forgotten what it was)

Also in the tearooms, we learned about Cotherstone, a thoroughbred racehorse, who won 6 consecutive races in 1843, and was sold that year to the 3rd Earl Spencer. Sadly, within a year Cotherstone was injured, so didn't race again. This reminded me of Sunloch, the winner of the Grand National in 1914, who appears not to have been the same after winning that particular race, and like Cotherstone was also once a steeplechaser.

The story of Cotherstone

One isn't allowed to tour the house alone, so we joined a small party of folk being shown around by a very knowledgeable guide. The house is still lived in, and the guest bedrooms we were shown are still used today when visitors come to stay, as are many other rooms in the house, and actually, it was quite funny to see modern-day reading material, and bottles of water on the bedside tables.

We were not allowed to take photographs, so I hastily scribbled a few things down in my little notebook, which now looks like a spider got hold of my pen!

Anyway, as we toured around, I couldn't help noticing things that rang a bell with me, but it took me a little while to work out why. In one particular instance, I saw a painting by John Boultbee, and couldn't work out why this rang bells with me until we moved into another room, the walls of which were covered with paintings of horses and other impressive animals, including the famous Durham Ox! So then it dawned on me: Boutlbee was the painter of that lovely likeness of Robert Bakewell on his horse, that I had seen so many times whilst I was blogging about Robert Bakewell of Dishley! Boultbee was born in Osgathorpe around 1753, and was influenced by the works of George Stubbs.

Also in Althorp House there were several portraits relating to the Earls of Leicester, including one of the 2nd and 3rd Earls, and one of the wife of the 1st Earl, as well as many of brothers, sisters and descendants of the various earls.

Finally, hidden amongst the many portraits of the family, royalty and other persons, was the most beautiful picture of Lady Jane Grey (ok, royalty!), painted by Lucas de Heere. Lady Jane Grey was also known as the Nine Day Queen, and her family home was in the house in Bradgate Park. Here's a link to the painting: it really was quite striking. According to the "Catalogue of the pictures at Althorp House" from 1851, the view through the windows are of "the remarkable [church] spires of that town". There are also some black and white engravings, in the style of de Leere's painting, available to view on the web on the National Portrait Gallery website.

After we'd finished at Althorp, we walked to the village of Great Brington where there were some lovely old buildings, including the village pub, The Fox and Hounds, and the church, St Mary the Virgin with St John, where members of the Althorp family are buried. Next door to the church was the Old Rectory. So completely different from our own Old Rectory on Steeple Row (museum open every Saturday, 11-3, until the end of October)!