It's About Time : 1720s-30s English houses & landscapes by Peter Tillemans (1684

Peter Tillemans (Flemish artist, 1684–1734) A View of the Garden and Main Parterre of Winchendon House, Buckinghamshire, from the East, with Figures in the Foreground

Peter Tillemans (c. 1684-1734) was a Flemish painter, best known for his works on sporting & topographical subjects. Tillemans was born in Antwerp, the son of a diamond-cutter, & studied painting there. He was brother-in-law to fellow artist Peter Casteels (1684-1749); & in 1708 the two young men were brought over to England by a dealer named Turner to copy Old Master paintings. By 1711, he had joined Godfrey Kneller's (1646-1723) new Great Queen Street Academy of painting as a founding member, where Tillemans declared his speciality as 'landskip'. He later joined the Society of St Luke (and was its Steward, 1725). Tillemans lived chiefly in Westminster, but traveled to execute commissions.

Peter Tillemans (Flemish artist, 1684-1734) Newstead Abbey, Nottinghamshire, West Aspect 1730

By 1715, he had acquired his most faithful patron, Dr Cox Macro of Suffolk. In his country landscapes with gardens paintings, the houses often stand in a countryside brought to life by animals & hunting scenes. He was employed with Joseph Goupy to paint a series of scenes for the opera-house in the Haymarket. In 1719, he was commissioned by John Bridges (1666-1724) to make about 500 drawings for the History of Northamptonshire. These drawings were all executed in Indian ink, for which Bridges gave him a guinea a day & the run of his house. Tillemans resided for some years at Richmond in Surrey, where is brother-in-law lived. He also stayed at the home of his patron Dr. Cox Macro of Norton Haugh in Suffolk, where he died on 5 Dec. 1734.