BEAUMONT, Sir George Howland

1753 - 1827

George Howland Beaumont was born at Great Dunmow, Essex on 6 November 1753, only surviving child of landowner Sir George Beaumont (1726-4 February 1762), 6th Baronet, and his wife Rachel Howland (-5 May 1814), daughter of Matthew Howland, of Stonehall, Great Dunmow, Essex who married on 26 March 1751. In 1762, he inherited the baronetcy and was brought up in Suffolk by Revd Charles Davy (1722-1797), then rector of Benacre, through whom in 1771, he met artists Thomas Hearne (1744-1817) and two year later Joseph Farington (1747-1821), who had a considerable influence upon him and they even joined him on his honeymoon in the Lake District in 1778 when he married on 26 May 1778, Margaret Willes (-14 May 1828), eldest daughter of John Willes M.P., of Astrop, Oxfordshire. George also studied under landscape painter Alexander Cozens (1717-1786) at Eton College and under John Baptiste Malchair (1731-1812) at New College, Oxford. After travelling the continent with his wife from 1782 he left his house in Dunmow and began re-building Coleorton Hall, Leicestershire and where he established his reputation as an art patron, and his house in Grosvenor Square, London was also a focal point for people from the worlds of art and politics. He played a crucial part in the creation of London's National Gallery by making the first bequest of his valuable collection of paintings to that institution. As an honorary member, Beaumont became an exhibitor at the Royal Academy earning a reputation as the leading amateur painter of his day. After a brief illness, Sir George Beaumont died in Coleorton Hall on 7 February 1827 he had no issue and the baronetcy went to George Howland Willoughby Beaumont, the son and heir of Thomas Beaumont, of Buckland in Reigate, co. Surrey, a brother of the 6th Baronet.

Royal Academy Exhibits
from
1779 373 A View in Keswick, in Cumberland
1794 126 A Landscape
1795 66 A Landscape
1797 88 A Lanscape by Twilight
         163 A Landscape
1799 Portrait of Elizabeth Wood of Creeting Hills, Suffolk
1800 103 A Landscape
         126 A Landscape
1811 120 View of Conway Castle
         123 A study from part of the Lake of Keswick
1813 75 Landscape
         120 A Landscape
1815 53 Landscape
         77 Landscape
1819 131 Landscape
1820 123 View in the Vale of Chamouny
         150 An Evening View, with Mont Blanc
1821 107 View on the banks of the Greta
         129 A Landscape
         130 A Snow Piece
1825 147 Landscape

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Works by This Artist