David Gee (artist)

David Gee
Self portrait (c. 1868)
Born1793
Coventry, England
Died1872
Styleoil painter

David Gee (Coventry, 1793 – 1872) was an English oil painter who took his inspiration from the local area.

Biography

Gee was born in Coventry, and his father was a Spon Street watchmaker.[1]

Gee was active as a painter between the years of 1815 and 1868. He mostly painted battle scenes, landscapes and portraits, as well as pictures inspired by local legends such as Lady Godiva.[2]

Gee died in 1871 or 1872.[3]

Doom painting

In 1831, Gee began restoration work on the Holy Trinity Doom, an early 15th-century painting of the Last Judgment.[4][5] He received five guineas for his work.[5] There is little contemporary information about Gee's work on the Doom, but conservation work begun in 1995[6] suggests he added outlines to the figures and repainted or recoloured some areas. There is no evidence that Gee significantly changed the painting's composition or symbolism.[5] Gee also applied a coating of megilp to the painting.[5] This bituminous varnish soon degraded and by 1873 the Doom was 'almost invisible'.[7]

Works

According to a letter dated 2 February 2015 (in response to Freedom of Information Act 2000 request ref no 20123607, link to download below), the Herbert Art Gallery and Museum in Coventry have 15 of David Gee's pictures in their collection their value ranging from £2,000 for portraits to £30,000 for his famous “Lammas Day” Coventry landscape.

One of his portraits, of Frederick George Smyth, painted in 1858, hangs in the King Henry VIII School Archive.

  • St Michael's and Holy Trinity Churches from the North East, Coventry (1849)[8]
  • Interior of St Michael's Church, Coventry (1862)[9]
  • Priory Street, Coventry (1861)
  • Alderman Edward Phillips (1835)
  • Miss Newarke (d.c.1860)
  • Lady Godiva Procession, Coventry (1867)[10]

References

  1. ^ "Paxton's Arboretum: Characters through time". Coventry Society. 15 March 2023. Retrieved 5 May 2025.
  2. ^ Kemp, David (1992). Pleasures and Treasures of Britain: A Discerning Traveller's Companion. Dundurn Group Ltd. p. 236. ISBN 978-1-55002-159-2.
  3. ^ Mallalieu, H.L (1976). The Dictionary of British Watercolour Artists up to 1920. Baron Publishing. p. 108. ISBN 978-0-902028-48-7.
  4. ^ "Holy Trinity Church, The painting of the Last Judgement". Retrieved 4 April 2012.
  5. ^ a b c d Gill, Miriam (2011). Monckton, Linda; Richard K. Morris (eds.). Coventry Medieval Art, Architecture and Archaeology in the City and its Vicinity. Maney Publishing (for The British Archaeological Association). pp. 206–222. ISBN 978-1-906540-62-3.
  6. ^ "The Holy Trinity Doom". Granville & Burbidge. Retrieved 4 April 2012.
  7. ^ "Holy Trinity Church Coventry, The Medieval Painting". Take a Pew. Retrieved 4 April 2012.
  8. ^ "St Michael's and Holy Trinity Churches from the North East, Coventry by David Gee". Exploring Eliot. Retrieved 5 May 2025.
  9. ^ "Interior of St. Michael's Church, Coventry by David Gee". Exploring Eliot. Retrieved 5 May 2025.
  10. ^ "The Lady Godiva Procession of 1829, Coventry - David Gee". Google Arts & Culture. Retrieved 5 May 2025.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.