DAVID BATES
“Sunset After Rain”
A lovely landscape oil on canvas painting by David Bates (1840-1921) entitled “Sunset After Rain”. It depicts a late evening scene with people on horseback riding down a wet bridleway stopping to talk with a Mother and her child by the edge of a field. The fading light and the colours at this time of the evening have been expertly captured.
Works by this artist command consistently good prices at auction. Some examples are included at the end of the photos.
Frame: Set in an ornate gilt wooden frame.
Signature: Lower right.
Provenance: Private collection.
Condition: Painting and frame are both in excellent condition.
Measurements: Painting measures 77 x 51cm and the overall frame 89 x 64cm.
Biography: David Bates (1840-1921) was a landscape & nature painter in oils and watercolour. He was born in Cambridge and from 1855 worked as a porcelain painter at the Royal Worcester porcelain works in Worcester where he came to specialise in painting flowers. He left his employment there in 1880 to become a full-time professional painter.
Bates was an “open-air” rural landscape artist, painting in the Midlands, Scotland and Wales, and abroad in Switzerland and Egypt. His work shows the influence of Benjamin Williams Leader, Joseph Thors and Samuel Henry Baker, and Bates is associated in style with the Birmingham School of artists.
He exhibited many works at the Royal Academy, Grosvenor Gallery, Royal Society of British Artists and the New Watercolour Society in London, and at the Royal Birmingham Society of Artists. His works are currently on display in Liverpool museum, Worcester City Art Gallery & Museum, and several other art galleries. His son, John Noel Bates (fl. 1870-1927), who adopted the professional name John Bates Noel, was also a notable landscape painter.