Tunbridge Wells from Frant Forest

Location

Country: UK
City: London
Place: Government Art Collection

Joseph Josiah Dodd was born in 1810 in Liverpool. His family later moved to Tonbridge, Kent. During the 1830s he gained a reputation as a topographical artist and engraver. In 1835, Queen Victoria was presented with a volume of Dodd’s watercolours of Tonbridge when she visited the town. Dodd was exhibiting his work at the Royal Academy and the Royal Society of British Artists at this time. He lived for a year in Paris from 1838, after which he spent his remaining years in Lancashire and Wales. He taught drawing, geometry, perspective and architectural drawing at the Manchester School of Design in the 1840s, before moving his family to Bangor in about 1859. He spent his final years in Oldham, Lancashire, where he died aged 86.
Robert Havell junior was the son of painter, engraver and publisher Robert Havell senior. Together with his father, Robert junior formed the firm of R. Havell & Son. Father and son worked jointly on numerous projects, including their ‘Series of Views of the Public Buildings & Bridges in London’ (1821-22) and ‘Birds of America’ (1827-39) for the American ornithologist John James Audubon. However, Robert senior died in 1832, leaving his son to complete the project. In the following few years Havell focused on oil painting. As a result of his friendship with Audubon, he decided to emigrate to America, moving to Tarrytown, New York state, in 1857. Here he became a leading member of the Hudson River school. He died in Tarrytown at the age of 84.

Places

England, Kent

Subjects

cart, topography, townscape/cityscape, Victorian Genre, cow, donkey, sheep, hill, forest, man, woman, basket, cooking pot, coat of arms, field, house, tent/marquee

Materials & Techniques

aquatint, coloured aquatint

Artist

Joseph Josiah Dodd (1809 - 1880)
Robert, Jnr Havell (1793 - 1878)

Title

Tunbridge Wells from Frant Forest

Date

Medium

Coloured aquatint

Dimensions

height: 76.00 cm, width: 57.00 cm

Acquisition

Purchased from Frank T Sabin, February 1958

GAC number

4540