George Richmond, R.A. Sunrise, November 12, 1874

Signed with monogram and dated l.r. and inscribed and dated l.l.: Sunrise Nov 12.1874, watercolour with touches of white and pink bodycolour

25 x 28 cm

Provenance
Walter Coleridge Richmond, the artist’s son, by family descent

Richmond was the son of the miniaturist Thomas Richmond, who enrolled at the Royal Academy Schools in December 1824 at the age of 15. His earliest influences were the Keeper of the R.A., Henry Fuseli and William Blake, whom he met in 1825. Although his major output was portraiture, a genre he chose to meet his family responsibilities, Richmond returned to the subject of sunrises and sunsets throughout his life. A similar watercolour of the same size dated May 1874 and inscribed ‘Recollection of an evening sky’ is in the collection of the Huntington Library, San Marino. In 1872 he painted an oil entitled ‘Sunrise over the sea at Margate’ (see R. Lister, George Richmond, 1981, p. 101).