Painter in oil and water colors, born at Arnold, near Nottingham, England, on the 24th of October 1801. He first took lessons of Louis Francia, the water-color painter. He afterwards studied in Paris—in the Louvre, at the Institute, and under Baron Gros. His water-colors sold rapidly. In 1822 he began to exhibit in the Salon, and received a premium from the Société des Amis des Arts for his views of Havre and Lillebonne. About this time he began to occupy himself with lithography. A fine collection of his work of this kind is preserved in the printroom of the British Museum.
In 1825 he took up oil-painting, and in that year visited England and Italy, subsequently producing his splendid Venice views of the Ducal Palace and the Grand Canal, which figured in the Salon of 1827, with his Francis I and the Queen of Navarre and his Henry III Receiving the Spanish Ambassador. He also exhibited in the Royal Academy and the British Institution. His high rank was at this time fully assured, but having contracted an attack of brain fever from exposure while sketching in the sun, his health failed. He visited London for medical advice, and died there on the 23rd of September 1828.
Of late years the fame of Bonington has been rapidly increasing, and he is recognized as a most accomplished and original painter of landscape and architectural subjects, as well as of scenes of historical genre. He is especially admired for the purity and brilliancy of his coloring.
