Henry John Yeend King (British 1855-1924) was an important and influential artist. He was a Victorian genre and landscape artist who specialised in idyllic country scenes, often with pretty farm girls at work or resting.
Henry John Yeend King
Yeend King was born in London and started out as a choirboy at the Temple Church. He later went on to study painting under the supervision of William Bromley RBA at which point he travelled to Paris. His time in Paris drew him to become influenced by the French Realists and Impressionists and helped him develop his mature style of carefully modelled figures, plein air techniques and bold colours.
Like many of his Victorian contemporaries, his love was of a somewhat idealized vision of idyllic country life. Think thatched cottages, cottage gardens, ducks and pretty girls gazing into meandering streams. He rarely painted scenes from the smoke and grime ridden industrial cities of the late nineteenth century. Following his marriage in 1881 he had a daughter who often appears as a model in his works.
In 1879 he was elected to the Royal Society of British artists and in 1886 to the Royal Institute of Painters in watercolours as well as the Royal Institute of Painters in Oils. He showed no less than 94 paintings at The Royal Academy and also exhibited and won awards in the USA, France and Germany.
His work is as sought after today as it was in his lifetime and there are examples in public collections at The Walker Art Gallery Liverpool, Manchester Art Gallery and The Tate Gallery.
A fine example of a Yeend King has recently been discovered at a property in Sutton Coldfield. Measuring an imposing 60cm by 90cm, the oil painting is typical of his style showing an idyllic country landscape with two pretty girls feeding ducks. It is being offered for public auction at Richard Winterton’s Fine Art & Silver Sale in Lichfield on 29th March. The pre-sale estimate is £4,000-6,000. The Sale will also include works by Thomas Sidney Cooper ARA (1803-1902), Edmund Bristow (1787-1876), William Mellor (1851-1931) and Scottish and Irish artists.
Adrian Rathbone, Fine Arts Manager at Richard Winterton Auctioneers can advise clients on the current auction and insurance values of their paintings. Contact the Auction House on 01543 251081 or email [email protected] for further details on this service.
