Henry George Hine (1811-1895) - Watercolour Distant View of the South Downs

Description

A fine and captivating watercolour painting by British artist Henry George Hine. The scene depicts a landscape view in the South Downs, a range of chalk hills that extend for about 260 square miles across the south-eastern coastal counties of England. The colour palette and precise brushstrokes are illustrative of the artist's proficiency in the subject and medium. Signed to the lower left-hand corner. There is a Green & Hewett label to the reverse from 1982 and another with an artist's biography and title. Well-presented in a washline card mount and in a simple wooden frame with golden undertones. On watercolour paper.

Condition

The condition is typical for a picture of this age including some discolouration, otherwise in very good condition. Minor scuffs and marks to the frame.

Size

22.6 x 48cm (8.9" x 18.9")
Framed Size: 44.4 x 68.5cm (17.5" x 27")

Artist Biography

Henry George Hine (1811-1895) was an English landscape-painter and comic illustrator born in Brighton, Sussex. He taught himself to draw and paint, and was encouraged by a neighbouring vicar who had watercolours by Copley Fielding. Hine painted several seascapes and coastal scenes in Sussex, and then went to London, where he was an apprentice draughtsman to Henry Meyer. After he left Meyer, Hine went to Rouen and remained there for about two years. He returned, first to Brighton, then to London, where he became a professional wood engraver. In 1841, Hine extended his practice to drawing on the wood for illustrated journals.
In 1863, Hine was elected an associate of the Institute of Painters in Watercolours. He was elected a full member in 1864, and exhibited in the following year two Dorset subjects. From that time onward he was a regular contributor to the exhibitions at the Institute, of which he was the vice-president from 1888 to 1895. After his marriage in 1840, Hine spent most of his life in London or the northern suburbs. Several of his watercolours were exhibited at the Institute in the year of his death, which took place at Rosslyn Hill, Hampstead, on 16 March 1895.
Hine's style was based on that of Copley Fielding. Between 1830 and 1851, he was contributing to several London exhibitions. He sent six pictures to the Royal Academy and twelve to the Suffolk Street Gallery. In 1856 he had three watercolours at Suffolk Street, and in 1859 an oil painting, 'Smugglers waiting for a Lugger', attracted attention at the Academy.