The painting of the Victorian age in Great Britain was divided into two camps: those artists who brought classical antiquity in its ideal conception to the canvas and a second group who took over influences of motifs and painting techniques from French artists. It was a time when England and France were still in regular political confrontation with each other. Therefore, an artistic turn towards France was usually at least critically observed.
It was all the more striking when artists with a biographical reference to France, such as Lyonel Percy Smythe, nevertheless made a name for themselves because of their excellent execution of motifs in "French" style. A nice example is the watercolour "Under the Greenwood Tree" from whose picture the two children sneak away from the task of pig herding. The painting is in its blurred style based on a French impressionism.
Lyonel Percy Smythe was the illegitimate son of his mother's affair with an Anglo-Irish diplomat from the British aristocracy. She brought the son into her later marriage with the painter William Morrison Wyllie. However, the boy was considered the "official" illegitimate son of the diplomat and was allowed to keep the father's name. The family lived for almost 10 years in France near the coast and there his two siblings, his brother William Lionel Wyllie became later also a painter. Here the foundation stone was laid for the Nöhe to French culture. His education at the independent Heatherley School of Fine Art further contributed to the artist's individual - not academic - style. Due to the motifs of his early creative years, very idyllic scenes of the coast, the sea and nature, he is classified by art history as a so-called idyllist. A group of painters and illustrators of Great Britain, who in their pictures express the beauty of nature with the social realism of the portrayed persons. Vincent van Gogh repeatedly expressed his admiration for the works of these painters in his correspondence.
Smythe never let go of his yearning for the land of his childhood. As an adult, he often traveled to Normandy with his wife, Alice. Eventually - he had made it prosperous - they acquired a Napoleonic fortress and lived there. Unfortunately, only for a few years, when it was finally submerged by the sea. For the couple, the journey now went far into mainland France, to the area around Paris, to live there until the end of World War I. With the move, a change of motives is noticeable. While in the time at the sea the maritime scenes were the main focus, the move was followed by the implementation of rural scenes. A clear sign of the direct influence of nature and surroundings on an artist. Lyonel Percy Smythe died in France at the age of 79.
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.jpg "Young Harvesters by Lionel Percy Smythe")
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 - (MeisterDrucke-578525).jpg "Bleaching Linen - Le Portel, before 1896 by Lionel Percy Smythe")
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.jpg "God Rest You, Merry Gentlemen! by Lionel Percy Smythe")
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.jpg "When Life is Hard It")
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.jpg "Girl Knitting, c1917 by Lionel Percy Smythe")
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.jpg "Unloading a French Herring-Boat at Boulogne by Lionel Percy Smythe")
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.jpg "The Breeze")
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.jpg "The Bait Digger by Lionel Percy Smythe")
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.jpg "Gleaning Oats, France by Lionel Percy Smythe")
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.jpg "A Thick Night off the Goodwins by Lionel Percy Smythe")
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.jpg "Home, c1900 by Lionel Percy Smythe")
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.jpg "Scene on the deck of a schooner caught in a storm, a sea drama, all the sailors and the captain")
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 - (MeisterDrucke-578648).jpg "The First Buds of Spring by Lionel Percy Smythe")
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.jpg "The Arabian Nights by Lionel Percy Smythe")
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.jpg "Our French Watering-Place by Lionel Percy Smythe")
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.jpg "Haymaking by Lionel Percy Smythe")
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.jpg "Waiting for the Boats by Lionel Percy Smythe")
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.jpg "Mr W L Wyllie by Lionel Percy Smythe")
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.jpg "First Mate by Lionel Percy Smythe")
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.jpg "The Knitter by Lionel Percy Smythe")
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.jpg "Harvester, 1910 by Lionel Percy Smythe")
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.jpg "The Mother and Child by Lionel Percy Smythe")
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.jpg "Short Handed by Lionel Percy Smythe")
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