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Do you think you may own a painting by Peter De Wint? We perform art art authentications, art appraisals, art research and provide Certificates of Authenticity (COA) as well as consultations, for all paintings by Peter de Wint.

Ruins of the Bishop’s Palace, Lincoln

Peter De Wint was an English landscape painter. His father was an English physician of Dutch extraction who had come to England from New York. De Wint was born at Hanley, Staffordshire and moved to London in 1802 where he was apprenticed to John Raphael Smith, the mezzotint engraver and portrait painter. He bought his freedom from Smith in 1806, on condition that he supply eighteen oil paintings over the next two years.

In 1806, he visited Lincoln for the first time with the painter of historical subjects, William Hilton, R.A., whose sister Harriet he married in 1810. De Wint and Hilton lived together in Broad Street, Golden Square, where John Varley also lived. Varley gave De Wint further lessons and introduced him to Dr. Monro, who ran an informal academy for young artists. De Wint first exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1807 and also at the Gallery of Associated Artists in Watercolours in 1808. In 1809, he entered the Royal Academy schools and was elected an Associate of the Old Watercolour Society in 1810. He was also made a full member the following year. By that time, as an established drawing master, he was spending his summers teaching well-to-do provincial families. In 1812, he became a member of the Society of Painters in Watercolors, where he exhibited largely for many years, as well as at the Academy.

A Cornfield, 1815

De Wint’s life was devoted to art, and he painted admirably in oils and ranks as one of the chief English watercolorists. “No artist”, asserted Alfred William Rich, “ever came nearer painting a perfect picture than did Peter De Wint”. A number of his pictures are in the National Gallery, the Victoria and Albert Museum and The Collection, Lincoln. He frequently visited his wife’s home city of Lincoln, and many of his panoramic landscapes and haymaking scenes are set in Lincolnshire. He occasionally toured in Wales and in 1828, traveled to Normandy. He died in London.

Drury Lane, Lincoln St. Albans, Watercolor, 9 ¾ x 14 ½, Private Collection Llandaff, c.1848, Watercolor, 32.7 x 49.5 cm, Agnew’s Gallery River Scene at Sunset, c. 1810, Oil paint on paper mounted onto cardboard, 307 x 460 mm, Tate Collection View on the Thames, Date unknown, Watercolor on paper, 152 x 419 mm, Tate Gallery Distant View of Nottingham, Date not known, Watercolor on paper, 140 x 587 mm, Tate Gallery A Copse in an Open Landscape, Watercolor and Body color, 15.3 x 17.8 cm A Cornfield, 1815, Oil on Canvas, Victoria and Albert Museum

Still wondering about a British painting in your family collection? Contact us…it could be by Peter De Wint.