Landscape, evening

The painter and engraver John Linnell (1792-1882) entered the Royal Academy schools in 1805. In a long and prolific career he exhibited 176 works at the Royal Academy, 91 at the British Institute and 52 watercolours at the Old Watercolour Society. He specialised in portraits up to the 1840's and after that landscapes. This particular painting was probably exhibited at the British Institute in 1851. In his Life of John Linnell, published in two volumes in 1892, A.T. Story identifies the painting as depicting North End, Hampstead. The work has suffered from the artist's use of asphaltum.