CIRCLE OF COLIN HUNTER RA (SCOTTISH 1841 - 1904),
THE HERRING MARKET AT SEA, LOCH FYNE, ARGYLL
oil on canvas, indistinctly signed; titled verso
60cm x 106cm
Framed
Note: This is a period and very competent copy of Hunter's 1884 painting of the same title (collection of Manchester Art Gallery). It's possible that the artist was a colleague or student of Hunter's. The prominent but indistinct signature defines it as a legitimate work and not an attempt to deceive. Colin Hunter was a British Victorian artist, born in Glasgow, Scotland in 1841 and died at Lugar, Melbury Road, London in 1904. He presented his first work Taking in the Nets to the Royal Academy in London 1868 and became an Associate Member of the Royal Academy in 1884. He exhibited nearly 100 paintings in the Universal Exhibitions in Berlin, Vienna and Philadelphia between 1886 to 1891. He was predominantly a painter of seascapes and working fisher-folk on the shores of fishing villages up and down the Scottish coast. But he also painted in Ireland, Cornwall and Devon. He also traveled to New York where he painted the Niagara Falls. Although he returned to Scotland to paint nearly every year, he lived in Melbury Road London on the west side of Holland Park from 1876. His house and studio was huge and he kept the company of many other celebrated artists. Melbury Road and its adjacent streets became an enclave of successful artists in the last quarter of the 19th century - most of whom were Academicians. Hunter was both friends and neighbours of artists such as Lord Leighton, G F Watts and Luke Fildes. Additional note: The canvas stamp verso is ''Robert Dyas, London EC'' which dates the canvas as between 1873 and 1905 after which the Robert Dyas stamp included ''Limited''.