Richard Parkes Bonington, October 25, 1802 – September 23, 1828, was an English painter born near Nottingham who spent most of his short life in France. He first studied with Louis Francia in Calais, then entered the Paris studio of Antoine-Jean Gros, where he became friends with Paul Huet and met Eugène Delacroix.
Bonington painted landscapes, coastal scenes, architectural views, and historical subjects in watercolor and oil. He traveled through Normandy and Picardy, visited England in 1825, and journeyed through Switzerland to Venice in 1826. At the Paris Salon of 1824, he received a gold medal alongside John Constable and Copley Fielding.
Bonington died of tuberculosis in London at the age of twenty-five. His work is held by the National Gallery, Tate Britain, the Wallace Collection, the Louvre Museum, and other major public collections.
Richard Parkes Bonington, c 1827–1830
Oil on canvas, 30 × 25 in
National Portrait Gallery, London
Near Quillebeuf, 1824–1825
Oil on canvas, 16.7 × 21 in
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
Beached Vessels and a Wagon near Trouville, c 1825
Oil on canvas, 14.6 × 20.6 in
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
In the Forest at Fontainebleau, c 1825
Oil on millboard, 16.6 × 13.6 in
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
On the Adriatic, c 1826
Oil on cardboard, 11.8 × 16.9 in
Louvre Museum, Paris
On the Coast of Picardy, 1826
Oil on canvas, 14.5 × 20 in
The Wallace Collection, London
The Giudecca in Venice, 1826
Oil on board, 9.8 × 12.5 in
Fondation Custodia, Paris
The Doge’s Palace, Venice, 1826
Oil on millboard, 14 × 16.8 in
Cleveland Museum of Art
Venice: The Piazza San Marco, 1828
Oil on canvas, 39.1 × 31.6 in
The Wallace Collection, London
Quentin Durward at Liège, 1828
Oil on canvas, 24.8 × 20.3 in
Nottingham Castle, UK
At the English Coast, 1825
Watercolor on paper, 5.5 × 8.9 in
Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest
Rouen, c 1825
Pencil, watercolor and bodycolor with gum varnish on paper, 7.1 × 9.3 in
The Wallace Collection, London
Grand Canal, Venice, 1826
Graphite and gouache on paper, 8.1 × 11.4 in
Tate Britain, London
The Salt Marshes near Trouville, 1826
Watercolor over graphite, 4.3 × 8.7 in
Getty Center, Los Angeles
Abbey St-Amand, Rouen, Undated
Watercolor, gouache and graphite on medium, slightly textured, cream wove paper, 7.5 × 5 in
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven