Frederick Richard Lee (1798-1879) entered the Royal Academy Schools in 1818 after retiring from the army on the grounds of ill-health. During his lifetime he exhibited 171 landscapes at the Royal Academy, 131 at the British Institute and 24 at the Society of British Artists. He mainly painted views of Devon, which was where he was born, but also elsewhere in England, Wales and Scotland. This particular painting was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1836 and is possibly of the Lincolnshire coast.
Physical description
Top half of picture is sky, the bottom half shows the sea and a beach disapperaing off into the distance. In the left foreground a man and woman gather seaweed next to a cart with two horses harnessed to it. The cart is already heavily loaded with seaweed. Another woman with a basket on her back and a net in her right hand walks with her back to the viewer toward the distance. Beyond her are other figures walking on the beach, varying distances away, and another cart by the water's edge. Behind and to the left of the cart in the foreground is a stone-built ou- crop over which the sails of boats on the water on it's other side can be seen.
Place of Origin
England, Great Britain (painted)
Date
ca. 1836 (painted)
Artist/maker
Frederick Lee, born 1798 - died 1879 (artist)
Materials and Techniques
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
Height: 76.1 cm estimate, Width: 91.4 cm estimate
Object history note
Given by John Sheepshanks, 1857
Descriptive line
Oil painting on canvas entitled 'Gathering Seaweed' by Frederick Richard Lee. Great Britain, 1836.
Bibliographic References (Citation, Note/Abstract, NAL no)
Catalogue of British Oil Paintings 1820-1860, Ronald Parkinson, Victoria and Albert Museum, London: HMSO, 1990, p. 155
The following is the full text entry:
"LEE, Frederick Richard, RA (1798/?9-1879)
Born Barnstaple, Devon, 1798 or 1799. Served in the army, retired because of ill-health, and entered RA Schools 1818. Exhibited 171 landscapes at the RA between 1824 and 1870,131 at the BI 1822-55, and 24 at the SBA 1825-37. Subjects mainly views in Devon, but also elsewhere in England, Wales and Scotland; visited, in his yacht, France, Spain and Italy. From 1847 he collaborated regularly with the animal painter T S Cooper and sometimes with Sir Edwin Landseer. Elected ARA 1834, RA 1838. According to Cooper, he saw painting 'more of a pastime than as a business, and he always gave me the impression that he considered the profession beneath him'. Retired from the RA 1871, and died at Vleeson Bank, South Africa, 5 June 1879.
LIT: Athenaeum 12 July 1879, p58 (obit); Art Journal 1879, p184 (obit); T S Cooper My Life 1890, I, pp325-30
Gathering Seaweed FA 107 Neg GA1192
Canvas, 76.1 X 91.4 cm (30 X 36 ins) Signed and dated
Sheepshanks Gift 1857
Exhibited at the RA in 1836. The Athenaeum critic commented: 'The first two pictures, which struck us on entering the Great Room, though both landscapes, could not be more strongly contrasted, unless we could find a pencil more literally true than that of Mr Lee's, or one more rich, sparkling, and peculiar than that of Mr Constable's'. The Constable painting was 'The Cenotaph' (NG). According to the MS Register, the scene is probably on the Lincolnshire coast.
EXH: RA 1836 (8)
LIT: Athenaeum 7 May 1836, pp330-1
Ronald Parkinson"
Materials
Oil paint; Canvas
Techniques
Oil painting
Subjects depicted
Men; Women; Horses; Boats; Sea; Cart; Beach; Seaweed
Categories
Paintings
Collection code
PDP
