Temptation
(signed LR and dated 1846)

William Collins RA 1788 - 1847, English
Oil on panel, 17.5" x 23.5"

William Collins R.A. was one of the best known artists of his time.  A painter of landscapes, coastal scenes and rustic genre. He is renowned for establishing the tradition of picturesque rustic lanscapes later emulated by many Victorian artists.

He painted more than 200 major works and hundreds of minor ones. He was elected an associate member of the Royal Academy on 7 November 1814 and a full member in 1820 and, apart from two years in Italy, he exhibited there every year from 1807 until the year before his death in 1847. His patrons included King George IV, the Prime Minister Sir Robert Peel, four Dukes, numerous other aristocrats, MPs, industrialists and members of the clergy. Despite his contemporary fame, he is now relatively unknown and his pictures are hard to find. Many of those that are in public collections are not on display and some of the finest are either lost or remain, perhaps unrecognised, in private hands.

Much that is known about William Collins comes from the two volume Memoirs of the Life of William Collins, Esq., R.A. by his son, the novelist Wilkie Collins (1824-1889) which was published in 1848. William's other son was the artist and writer Charles Allston Collins (1828-1873)

This is a beautiful example of a genre painting, in decorative period frame.

Price: Category D