Trelissick House, Truro (or Falmouth)

Location

Country: Other
City: other locations abroad

This wooded scene is framed by trees to either side. On the tree-covered hills beyond there are several properties, overlooking an estuary or river upon which two sailing boats and a rowing boat are travelling.

Although purchased for the Government Art Collection in 1974 as 'Trelissick, Cornwall', all the buildings represented in this work have yet to be identified. Trelissick House itself is not depicted. The painting was sold through Christie’s, London, in 1974 under the title 'Wooded River Landscape' and the subsequent identification of the location as Trelissick is unconfirmed.

The Trelissick estate is situated on a headland overlooking the estuary of the River Fal, on the south coast of Cornwall. Although a house has stood on the site since the mid-18th century, it was not until the late 19th century that the gardens were landscaped. The Copeland family, who inherited the house in 1937, continued to improve the estate and gave the gardens their present shape. The smooth expanses of lawn enclosed by dense shrubs and woods, pierced by winding walks, which characterise Trelissick are not unlike the landscape represented here.

Thomas Lyde Hornbrook was a leading marine painter from Plymouth. He became marine painter to H.R.H. the Duchess of Kent and her daughter, the Princess Victoria. This probably occurred in 1833, when the Duchess and the Princess visited Plymouth and went on a cruise in the frigate Forte to inspect the Eddystone lighthouse. Perhaps because he lived in a naval port his choice of subjects was mostly of scenes involving Royal Navy ships.

Places

England, Trelissick House, Cornwall, River Fal

Subjects

rowing boat, topography, landscape C19th, tree, sunset, river, hill, bay, shore, man, house, sailboat

Materials & Techniques

canvas, oil, oil painting

Artist

Thomas Lyde Hornbrook (1780 - 1850)

Title

Trelissick House, Truro (or Falmouth)

Date

Medium

Oil on canvas

Dimensions

height: 58.50 cm, width: 89.00 cm

Acquisition

Purchased from Oscar & Peter Johnson, November 1974

Inscription

bl: T L Hornbrook

Provenance

With O & P Johnson; from whom purchased by the Department of the Environment in November 1974, as 'Trelissick, Cornwall'

GAC number

11667