Topography and Petit
Petit travelled incessantly both abroad and within the UK. Our view is that Petit’s claim to renown as an artist stands on more firmly on his forward-looking impressionistic, sometimes post-impressionistic style, and his new approach to what makes an interesting picture. Topography per se is mainly of interest locally. Nevertheless the variety and range of Petit’s coverage, of churches and landscapes, must be acknowledged and is a basis for his widespread appreciation. This is best approached in three parts: Britain, France (almost as large a proportion as Britain), and other countries.
Britain
- The Midlands: in Staffordshire, Derbyshire, East Shropshire, and to a lesser extent the Black Country and the East Midlands, Petit has left one of the most important artistic legacies of these regions.
- The North and North Wales. Across Yorkshire, Northumbria, and the region around Barmouth, Petit’s art is important although there are plenty of other historical artists.
- The West. Petit spent extensive periods around Cheltenham and Torquay with less extensive coverage elsewhere
- The South. Essex and Kent have many early works. Sussex and Hampshire mainly the important churches
France
Petit made at least ten painting trips to France covering all mainland regions, most several times. He visited and painted the famous locations and cathedrals but also the ordinary landscapes and their small churches.
We know insufficient of French regional artists of the 19th, or any, century to be able to comment on the relative importance of this legacy. The Petit Society members’ collections alone total over 400 works with depth in Normandy, Hauts-de-France, Ile-de-France, Centre Val de Loire, Occitanie, Nouvelle-Aquitaine, Auvergne and Provence. On some trips Petit experiments in his landscape art in ways not yet seen in Britain. A variety of French pictures are linked here.
Other Countries
Besides the numerous trips within Britain and France, key trips were made to:
- Belgium (c.1830, 1855)
- Germany (1838, 1856)
- Italy (1839, 1854, 1857, 1865)
- Greece and Corfu (1857)
- Spain and North Africa (1858-59)
- Egypt, Syria, Palestine (1865)
- Constantinople (1857, 1865)
- Ireland (1830s ?, 1862, 1867)
- Isle of Man (1830s, 1840s, 1866)
- Switzerland, Austria (1839, 1856, 1857)
The lower frequency means that survival rates of art from these locations is not uniform. Nor is the relative amount seen by our members. Pictures from Spain, North Africa, the Middle East and Ireland are quite rare, with many by Petit’s sisters filling the void.
Some British Regions
Staffordshire
Petit must rank as one of Staffordshire’s greatest historical artists. That is perhaps not saying as much as we would like because Staffordshire was not as popular as other counties in attracting the attention of artists. Peter de Wint was from Staffordshire but did not paint it that much. Indeed until we are dissuaded of the fact we will maintain that Petit has painted Staffordshire more widely and more beautifully than any other artist, based on:
- The Lichfield landscapes from 1857-68
- His ‘domestic’ landscapes around Longdon, mostly in 1867 and 1868
- The early Dovedale pictures, from the 1830s
- On Cannock Chase c1843, and
- Around Stafford, mostly 1840-41
These are fully illustrated in the book Petit’s Tours of Old Staffordshire, and there are many scattered across the exhibition on this site. So no more here.
Derbyshire
If one searches for historical landscape artists of Derbyshire one finds the magnificent but few 18th century works by Joseph Wright of Derby and the many typically pretty works by the Gresley dynasty of four artists, George Turner and the odd great work by many others. Petit presents well alongside these, in quality and quantity, such that he may be considered an important artist of Derbyshire, with
- dramatic and realistic peak country views from the 1830s
- a specific set of landscape studies from between Ashbourne and Norbury from 1838 (some included in book)
In addition there are the detailed church studies of both places and a range of unusual tree sketches too. All are from the 1830s.
Yorkshire
More so than for Derbyshire, many great artists have painted a few pictures of Yorkshire – there is a tour of locations which Turner painted – and there are also well known artists of Yorkshire origin. Art curator and historian Jane Sellars published a book Art and Yorkshire in 2014. Nevertheless even alongside the greats Petit’s art stands up well, by being more modern and impressionistic than the classical watercolourists. The ruins are more savage and less romantically pretty picturesque.
Petit’s art of Yorkshire includes abbey ruins, landscapes around Rivaulx, both from a lengthy stay in 1844, distant church views of the places he studied, especially York, Howden, Beverley, spread over his career, and some quite wild landscapes near Easegill in the dales, believed to be from 1843.
Kent
There are many renowned artists from Kent, including Turner and Samuel Palmer; and many others painted its coast and countryside, including even Van Gogh. Petit visited Kent mainly early in his career when his style had not matured. Later pictures are fewer. Therefore, in comparison to the other important regions we do not say that Petit is significant for Kent, but that Kent is significant for Petit
Petit’s Kent landscapes are of three types:
- The ‘honeymoon’ album of sunny pictures, presumed to be from the summer of 1828, one of which is shown in the Exhibition,
- A series of pictures around Rochester and along the Medway, mostly shipping but not all, thought to date from 1832-42
- A smattering of later landscapes
This excludes the many church pictures from Kent, from the celebrated to obscure beautiful gems such as the Minster in the Isle of Sheppey.
North Wales
There are many renowned Welsh landscape artists, starting with Richard Wilson (1713-82). Of those from outside who took inspiration from its mountains, David Cox (1783-1859) is particularly relevant since he is also considered an impressionistic watercolourist. Petit visited North Wales and Anglesey once early in his career, then around 1850 and subsequently every year from 1858 until the year before his death in 1867. The reason for such frequent visits was to construct the Caerdeon Chapel near Barmouth for his brother-in-law, between 1861 and 1862. He returned presumably to visit the family. Besides pictures of ‘his’ church there are very many later landscapes of the region many of which are very fine. Petit may eventually regarded no less highly than any of those more widely known.
