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Artist Biography & Facts
William Havell

William Havell (1782 - 1857) was active/lived in United Kingdom, England.  William Havell is known for Idealized landscape and marine painting, portrait.

Havell was the son of a Reading drawing-master, and he participated in several sketching societies in the early 19th century.  In 1805 he contributed to the first exhibition held by the Society of Painters in Water-colours, of which he was a founder-member.

At the same time he began to establish himself as an oil painter, in the manner of Richard Wilson and J. M. W. Turner, exhibiting at the Royal Academy and the British Institution. Initial success was followed by mounting criticism of his idealized treatment of brightly sunlit subjects. The disillusioned Havell accepted the post of official artist to the embassy of China led by William Pitt, Earl Amherst of Arracan (1773-1857), which set out in 1816; Havell was able to sketch the Chinese countryside as the embassy took the return route overland from Beijing to Guangzhou. From there he moved to India and Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), where he spent six years painting portraits and landscapes before returning to England in 1826.   ...  [Displaying 1000 of 2121 characters.]  Artist bio

Artist auction records

.  askART's database currently holds 116 auction lots for William Havell (of which 95 auction records sold and 0 are upcoming at auction.)

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Research resources

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Similar artists

.  There are 24 similar (related) artists for William Havell available:    Samuel Hieronymus Grimm,  John Warwick Smith,  Paul Sandby,  George Richmond,  John Ruskin,  Charles Bentley,  Daniel Gardner,  Samuel Owen,  George Fennel Robson,  William Roxby Beverley,  Thomas Hearne,  William Daniell,  Edward Dayes,  Thomas Shotter Boys,  Thomas Girtin,  John Augustus Atkinson,  William Page,  Robert Hills,  Thomas Sunderland,  Francis Place,  Thomas Gainsborough,  John Buckler,  William Payne,  John Joseph Cotman



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Facts about William Havell

Biography from the Archives of askART

Havell was the son of a Reading drawing-master, and he participated in several sketching societies in the early 19th century.  In 1805 he contributed to the first exhibition held by the Society of Painters in Water-colours, of which he was a founder-member.

At the same time he began to establish himself as an oil painter, in the manner of Richard Wilson and J. M. W. Turner, exhibiting at the Royal Academy and the British Institution. Initial success was followed by mounting criticism of his idealized treatment of brightly sunlit subjects. The disillusioned Havell accepted the post of official artist to the embassy of China led by William Pitt, Earl Amherst of Arracan (1773-1857), which set out in 1816; Havell was able to sketch the Chinese countryside as the embassy took the return route overland from Beijing to Guangzhou. From there he moved to India and Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), where he spent six years painting portraits and landscapes before returning to England in 1826. In 1828-9 he travelled in Italy. Subsequently he remained in England, exhibiting vivid landscapes that did not bring him the renown that he had once seemed likely to achieve.

In the late 1830s Havell experimented with 'photogeny' (together with his brother Frederick James) and incurred the hostile rivalry of Henry Fox Talbot. A number of his works were engraved, notably a Series of Picturesque Views of the River Thames, reproduced in coloured aquatint in 1811 by his uncle Robert Havell; the latter also published a Series of Picturesque Views of Noblemen's Seats (1814-23), to which William contributed.

Collections
Havell is represented in the following collections: Ashmolean Museum, Oxford; Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna O Waiwhetu, New Zealand; Courtauld Institute of Art, London; Hong Kong Museum of Art, Hong Kong; National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, UK; Tate Gallery, London; Tyne & Wear Museums, England, amongst others.

Source:
Sphinx Fine Art
http://www.sphinxfineart.com/Havell-William-DesktopDefault.aspx?tabid=45&tabindex=44&artistid=30404


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