Lambeth Palace by Moonlight

Location

Country: UK
City: London
Place: HM Revenue & Customs, 100 Parliament Street

Henry Pether was a painter of townscapes and landscapes. He was one of a family of painters who specialised in moonlit scenes and painted in a similar style. The most famous member of the family was Henry’s father, Abraham Pether (1756–1812). Pether exhibited seven paintings at the Royal Academy between 1828 and 1862. He also showed his work at the Royal Society of British Artists in Suffolk Street (1833-1834 and 1855) and at the British Institution (1865). During his career he moved several times, living at addresses in Southampton, Camden Town and south London, probably to escape his creditors. In 1837, The London Gazette reported that Pether was an inmate of a debtor’s prison and described his profession as ‘Surveyor, Artist, Engineer, and Architect’. Difficulty in making a sufficient income from painting alone may have led him to experiment with other occupations and entrepreneurial projects. In 1839 he and ‘Alfred Singer, of Vauxhall’ were granted a patent for ‘improvements in the preparation and combination of earthenware or porcelain for the purpose of mosaic’. Mr Singer went on to exhibit mosaic tiles at the Great Exhibition of 1851 and a review of the exhibition mentions Pether as one of those responsible for ‘re-introducing this very beautiful kind of decoration’. Pether continued his attempts to supplement his career as an artist with further patents for architectural materials in 1864 and 1867 and a patent for a lamp globe in 1876.

Places

England, River Thames, London, Vauxhall Bridge, Lambeth Palace, Lambeth

Subjects

rowing boat, walking, topography, townscape/cityscape, tree, night, moon, river, man, woman, path, railing, lamp post, bridge (urban), palace, wall, sailboat

Materials & Techniques

canvas, oil, oil painting

Artist

Henry Pether

Title

Lambeth Palace by Moonlight

Date

1852

Medium

Oil on canvas

Dimensions

height: 69.00 cm, width: 89.50 cm

Acquisition

Purchased from Christie's, 15 October 1976

Inscription

signed and dated 1852

Provenance

Sold through Christie's, London, 'Fine Victorian Pictures' sale, on 15 October 1976 (Lot 37); from which sale purchased by the Department of the Environment

GAC number

12492