The Governor's House, Fredericton by William Henry Bartlett

William Henry Bartlett, the son of middle-class parents, attended a boarding-school in London from 1816 to 1821 and in 1822 was apprenticed to the architect and antiquarian, John Britton, whose establishment in the parish of St Pancras (London) offered the boy an education that was both theoretical and practical. Bartlett studied and copied architectural drawings of the past and present and, with Britton, visited noted ruins in England from which he made detailed sketches to be engraved for some of Britton’s own publications. At first these sketches were purely architectural, as drawings in the last volume of Britton’s five-volume The architectural antiquities of Great Britain (London, 1807–26) attest. Later, the quality of Bartlett’s sketches and his interest in Landscape, especially obvious in some of the water-colours which he did about 1825 of Thomas Hope’s home at Deepdene, Surrey, led Britton to undertake publication of Picturesque antiquities of the English cities (London, 1836). John Cousen was articled to John Scott, the animal engraver. His larger works after Turner, Stanfield, and others are of great excellence, but his exquisite taste is best displayed in his smaller plates after Turner, especially those in the 'Rivers of France,' which are full of poetic feeling. Cousen worked extensively for The Art Journal.

Provenance: Purchased from Key Auctions in Saint John, New Brunswick, on March 19, 2023. Sticker on back from T. Eaton Co, Picture Department
Artist / Author: William Henry Bartlett
Date of Work: Not specified
Signature location: Not specified
Origin of Work: Fredericton, NB
Subject: Landscape
Original Vendor/Source: Key Auctions
Details of damage: dents and scratches around frame
Frame Style/Material: composite, glass, matte
Frame dimensions: 11.625 x 12.750 x 1.000
Inner frame dimensions: 10.625 x 11.750
Artwork dimensions: 5.975 x 7.750