Distant View of Chester

Location

Country: UK
City: London
Place: Government Art Collection

J. M. W. Turner was born in London and studied at the Royal Academy Schools from the age of 14. He was elected a Royal Academician in 1802 and opened a public gallery, an extension to his home in Harley Street, two years later. Turner also began to build Sandycombe Lodge, Twickenham, from 1812. After the hostilities with France, he travelled in Europe, including a visit to Italy in 1819. Throughout the 1820s he drew topographical subjects, notably for C. Heath’s ‘Picturesque Views in England and Wales’ (1827-38). Some 370 engravings after his works of the 1830s helped spread his fame through Europe and America. In 1845 he served as Acting President of the Academy. He bought 6 Davis Place, Chelsea, the following year, where he died aged 76.
William Byrne made etchings and engravings of landscapes after contemporary artists. At 22 he won a premium of 25 guineas from the Society of Arts. From 1769 to 1772 he worked for Johann Georg Wille in Paris. After returning to the UK he became a prosperous engraver and publisher. He exhibited from 1766 to 1780 and was elected a fellow of the Incorporated Society of Artists. With watercolourist Thomas Hearne he produced the series of engravings for ‘The Antiquities of Great Britain’ (1778-06). Among his pupils were Samuel Middiman and Johann Gottlieb Schumann. Byrne married twice and had five children, all of whom became painters and / or engravers. Byrne died suddenly at his home in Titchfield Street, Westminster, at about the age of 62.

Places

England, Chester, Cheshire

Subjects

topography, landscape C19th, townscape/cityscape, tree, cow

Materials & Techniques

engraving, coloured engraving

Artist

Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775 - 1851)
William Byrne (1743 - 1805)

Title

Distant View of Chester

Date

published 24 January 1810

Medium

Coloured engraving

Acquisition

Purchased from Sotheby's, 22 February 1977

GAC number

13091