The son of the artist and polymath Abraham Pether FSA (1756-1812), Henry Pether was one of the 19th century’s finest exponents of the topographical view painting, or vedute scene, captured by night. Pether’s dedication to his craft and in particular his meticulous attention to detail and accuracy meant that he was not a prolific painter, just an exceptionally good one. Unlike the many Victorian artists who made pilgrimages to North Wales and the Highlands of Scotland in search of bucolic splendour, Henry Pether was a lover of the city, albeit after dark when its streets had been swept of people.
‘St. Paul’s Cathedral from Blackfriars Bridge’ by Henry Pether
Image courtesy of Christie’s, London
I have no doubt the economical staffage in his paintings accounts for some of their enduring appeal. Too many artists have felt compelled to add figures to their topographical paintings, as if concerned the public would recoil from an unpopulated landscape; they are useful to the artist for establishing scale but unwanted clutter if you only want to enjoy the view.
That said, I don’t so much look at a painting by Pether as look into it, as though invited to a private view of the city as it sleeps. Pether’s midnight panoramas present the viewer with the perfect place for a clandestine assignation and nothing shatters a romantic ambiance quicker than a crowd. The few figures there are in a painting by Henry Pether never feel compulsory, just curious and therefore all the more interesting. Who are these shadowy figures? What are they up to at this time of night?
Even the briefest study of Henry Pether reveals his significant influence upon the later work of the ever-popular John Atkinson Grimshaw. Pether was in his sixties when the latter began emulating his moonlit paintings, or as James McNeill Whistler famously dubbed them; “nocturnes”. Originally, of course, a musical term describing a composition inspired by or evocative of night, it was borrowed by Whistler to describe his own crepuscular pictures in the hope of bestowing upon them the appearance of refinement and originality and to give the impression that he had identified a new subgenre of landscape painting; a typically pompous fancy that would have amused Rembrandt, Aert van der Neer, Godfried Schalcken, Joseph Wright, Vernet, Turner, and Caspar David Friedrich who were all painting “nocturnes” before Whistler was even born. Ironically it was Whistler who proclaimed that “Art should be independent of all claptrap!”. A clever and witty man, Whistler. But overrated as a painter, and full of it.
‘The River Thames by Moonlight’ by Henry Pether
Previously sold by Academy Fine Paintings
Despite travelling widely across Britain and painting wonderfullly atmospheric views of Worcester, Portsmouth and Southampton, and the medieval castles of Walmer in Kent and Newark near Glasgow many of Henry Pether’s favourite locations were to be found along the course of the Thames. As a native Londoner he knew the banks of the river intimately from Marlow, Windsor and Twickenham in the west, to Chelsea, Westminster, and The City itself, out to Greenwich in the east. His other great inspiration was Venice, of which the artist painted a series of fabulous scenes capturing its famous landmarks under the obligatory full moon. Pether’s views of the city are among the most atmospheric ever painted.
‘Venice by Moonlight’ depicts an extensive nocturnal view of the Grand Canal with the Palazzo Pisani Gritti to the left and the Dorsoduro to the right, the Santa Maria della Salute at the Punta della Dogana, and the Ducal Palace and St Mark’s in the background across the basino. As ever, the topographical details are accurate and faithfully rendered.
‘Venice by Moonlight’ by Henry Pether
Now available to purchase from Academy Fine Paintings
In the eighteenth century, Edmund Burke and Immanuel Kant sought to differentiate the concept of Beauty from that of the philosophical concepts of the Picturesque and the Sublime. According to their definitions, Henry Pether’s moonlit paintings exemplify all three; they depict what is beautiful and are beautiful in themselves and evoke a range of emotional responses in the viewer from intense pleasure to disquieting awe. The mood of darkly poetic Romanticism seen in all his paintings was partly achieved by the presence of three characteristic features…
Number one: Architecture. I can only recall a couple of paintings by the artist that do not feature a building or buildings of political, economic, or cultural significance. They are not always old, but they will always have presence and purpose (Pether did not paint capriccios) and above all, they will look spectacular silhouetted against the night sky.
‘Venice by Moonlight’ by Henry Pether (detail)
Number two: Illumination. I say “illumination” rather than simply “the moon” because the moon is rarely the only source of light in a Pether, although it is always the principal. Because the appearance and position of the full moon changes across the lunar calendar we can surmise the time of year depicted in the painting. If it sits low in the sky and is a bright white it might be the Milk Moon of May or June but if it has a pink or red glow then it is more likely to be a Harvest Moon of the autumn equinox. Whatever the season, Pether’s full moons are always set in a Prussian Blue sky.
Unlike that other great English painter of moonlit scenes, Joseph Wright (1734-1797), Henry Pether did not routinely feature a second primary light source of equal impact such as a blazing building, furnace, or volcano (although he did paint a couple of wonderful scenes of Vesuvius erupting). Instead, additional illumination comes from gas lights or a single candle glowing in a distant window. Whereas Wright’s fires were big and bright and outshone the moon, Pether’s pin pricks of flame were included not as competition but as a compliment and counterpoint to it, intensifying the ethereal atmosphere that haunts the artist’s work. The other comes from secondary light borrowed from the moon and reflected off a non-luminous body.
‘Venice by Moonlight’ by Henry Pether (detail)
Number three: Water. Whether it’s a river such as the Thames or the Clyde, the Grand Canal in Venice or a fountain in Trafalgar Square, water always plays a crucial role in any picture by Henry Pether. Whilst many of his contemporaries only had eyes for ten-foot swells or raging torrents, Henry Pether preferred to paint still waters that did little more than ripple and purl. Looking at the boiling ocean in a Clarkson Stanfield seascape we are watching a show-stopping solo performance. In a Pether landscape, water duets with the moon; each showing off the other to its best advantage.
The importance of light reflected or refracted in water should not be underestimated. It’s why film directors still ask for a “wet down” before shooting a night scene; to throw what light there is as far and in as many directions as possible to pick out detail and colour that would otherwise be lost. It is why artists have always favoured oiling-out and using a coat of varnish which, when applied to a matte surface, saturates dull colours, enhances contrast, and accentuates perception of three-dimensional depth especially in the darker passages of a picture.
‘Northumberland House and Whitehall from Trafalgar Square by Moonlight’ by Henry Pether
Image courtesy of the Museum of London
Unfortunately, Henry Pether’s painstaking artistic process meant he could never paint sufficient pictures to meet demand, prompting some unscrupulous Victorian dealers to hire dozens of journeyman artists to produce inferior imitations of his paintings. Many of these ringers remain in circulation today and are routinely attributed to Henry (or to his father or brother, Sebastian). The internet can always be relied upon to spread inaccuracies and a brief search online reveals spurious paintings purporting to be “by Henry Pether” available at the world’s leading online art and antique sales platform, and numerous fan blogs celebrating his paintings that always feature at least one picture that has nothing to do with the artist whatsoever. As if the presence of these misattributed pictures and Victorian facsimiles on the 21st century art market wasn’t irritating enough there are other frauds abroad, meaning that anyone interested in acquiring a painting by Henry Pether is wise to proceed with some caution.
As every art critic, historian, and auctioneer will tell you, examining the back of an antique canvas can be highly informative – however – it can also be deeply misleading unless you truly understand what you are looking at. I have lost count of the number of times I have been invited to look at the verso of an oil painting the owner is quite certain is one thing to find that it is another. For instance, just because the back of a canvas is old does not guarantee the painting itself has any age whatsoever. Fakers routinely glue lookalikes and copies to tatty old canvases; it could not be simpler to do and in my experience will fool 90% of viewers. In some cases, these doppelgängers do have some age and in others they are brand new, most frequently those imported from China. Painted by poorly paid art students in Beijing tower blocks, they are sold by the numerous websites that offer “high quality” replicas of well-known 19th century oil paintings, and by UK-based manufacturers of (not inexpensive) reproduction furniture; “Can I interest you a J.M.W. Turner to compliment your new faux Georgian bureau, sir?”.
Sadly, when these half-decent Chinese pictures fall into the hands of fakers, they simply give the paint layers a scrub to imitate natural surface wear and past incidents of overcleaning, superglue a worthless antique painting to the back and Bob is very much your uncle; that nearly new Chinese Turner is now an interesting period sleeper.
This is what one of these imported furnishing paintings looks like from the back…
As you can see, the original white synthetic canvas (still visible at the selvedge) has been lined with a more aesthetically pleasing linen support. It has also been given an antique frame, which might further confuse many people as to the painting’s age. The other side looks like this…
A 21st century Chinese copy of ‘Venice by Moonlight’ by Henry Pether – the original of which we now have for sale – displayed in an antique Victorian frame. Considerable work has gone into painting it, albeit from a traced outline, but the colours are all wrong; a sure sign that it has been copied from a print.
Once you have become really familiar with Pether’s work – by repeatedly viewing and handling the real thing – copies are easy to spot and with no more than a glance. An authentic Henry Pether – though it may depict the darkest night – will be easy to read and enjoy without the need for an Imalent flashlight, the predominant colour tone will not be a sickly green, electric blue or mauve, and finally – contrary to popular opinion – it will not depict some fanciful pseudo-Gothic fantasia but an actual, identifiable location.
If you are considering buying a painting by Henry Pether – or any other artist of real consequence – my advice is always the same; the simplest and most cost-effective way of buying an authentic antique work of art of genuine quality in good condition is to satisfy yourself that the person selling it understands what one actually looks like.
Between 1828 and 1865 Henry Pether exhibited at the Royal Academy, the British Institution, and the Royal Society of British Artists. Today, paintings by Henry Pether are held in the collections of Tate Britain, the City of London, the Royal Museums in Greenwich, and the Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, Connecticut.
by Gavin Claxton
© Academy Fine Paintings Ltd 2024