Meet the celebrities - Part 1
To entertain you this autumn, I am starting a very special series to highlight some very special porcelain artists, and this week it is part 1. In the late 18th Century, the new art of porcelain painting attracted some very talented artists that became celebrities in their own right. There could be fierce competition between the nobility and nouveau riche to purchase a dessert or tea service painted by one of those famous artists, who of course had limited capacity to keep churning out more of these services. This week, we start with John Brewer, who was one of the most important and most talented artists at the Derby factory.
John Brewer grew up in London and was raised by parents who were successful painters. He had a brother, Robert, and both boys had their parents' talent and were well educated in the arts. The young Brewer excelled in watercolours, that that is something he kept doing his whole life. But in 18th Century London, the art scene was crowded, so the Brewer brothers decided to explore new avenues: they moved to Derby in 1795 and took up porcelain painting at the Crown Derby factory.
Simple enough, you think. There's a new fashion to produce beautiful porcelain so you just apply your skills to that instead of watercolours. But porcelain painting is, in fact, a develishly difficult skill; much more difficult than watercolour or oil painting. Each colour has to be fired at different temperatures, so you can't simply change anything; a painting has to be meticulously planned and executed to get everything in the right order. You can't improvise anything. And anything can go wrong with any of the colours, which will then have to be remedied by hiding it - or the piece is wasted and you'll have wasted a precious blank and have to start again.
So usually even talented painters would take years to learn this skill. The young John Brewer, however, apparently understood within a week how to do it, and became a fully skilled porcelain artist pretty much immediately. This brought him fame, and of course the Derby factory was extremely happy to have such a talented and productive painter in their ranks.
Brewer specialised in beautiful, very finely painted landscapes, usually in autumnal colours; but he also loved painting botanical flowers, which he often copied from the famous botanical books around at that time. You can recognise his flowers by their precise, yet bold brush strokes, quite different from his landscapes.
I currently have two items in stock painted by Brewer. New in is a wonderful plate with a very rare image; something that Brewer is not known to have painted. You see a sepia monochrome scene of a dog chasing a pheasant, painted very finely in the tiny brush strokes that Brewer was famous for. You can also see how he very artfully scratched some white accents into the sepia paint, creating a very lively texture. The image is set in a bold octagonal gilt band, and around the diagonally ribbed rim is a fine Etruscan pattern in gilt.
The other item I have is a part dessert service with his famous botanical flowers. The name of each flower is written in his longhand handwriting on the back, both in English and in Latin - you can just imagine the guests finishing their plates in order to turn them around and see if they guessed it right! The flowers are beautifully bold, yet precise; a combination of bold brushstrokes and fine detail. The crocus even has its bulb including the little roots. Each plate has a warm red rim. Have a look at the sauce tureen, which is still good for use in spite of a slight line; it is also beautifully painted with yellow flowers and has an extremely elegant Neoclassical shape.
Where to find things
You can find Brewer's items on my website, where I have a whole page of Derby porcelain, and you can find all my available stock here. If you always want to see the latest additions, follow me on Instagram... I post pictures and a story several times a week.
Happy weekend, and enjoy the work of a true artist 🎨👨🎨🖼
This week's treasures:
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