Christmas Cataract on the River Berbice, Guiana

Location

Country: UK
City: London
Place: Government Art Collection

Watercolour painter and engraver Charles Bentley is best-known for painting breezy scenes off the English coast. He was born in London; the son of a master carpenter. Bentley was apprenticed to printmaker Theodore Fielding and later spent time in Paris with Theodore’s brother, watercolourist Newton Fielding. From 1827 Bentley made a modest living as an engraver and illustrator. He was elected a member of the Society of Painters in Water Colours (1843) and exhibited 209 works from 1834 to his death. He was a friend of artist William Callow; with whom he made several sketching trips, including a tour of Normandy (1841). The two shared a home in Charlotte Street, Bloomsbury, from 1843 to 1846. Bentley died in Hampstead, at the age of 48.

Places

South America, Guyana, Berbice River

Subjects

canoe, rowing boat, barrel, topography, Victorian Genre, tree, palm, river bank, cataract, river, man, tent/marquee, hammock

Materials & Techniques

lithograph, colour lithograph

Artist

Charles Bentley (1806 - 1854)
Paul Gauci (1800 - 1855)

Title

Christmas Cataract on the River Berbice, Guiana

Date

1840

Medium

Colour lithograph

Acquisition

Purchased from Parker Gallery, November 1956

GAC number

3631