Watercolours, 4½"x8", signed by George Weatherill. SOLD
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George Weatherill was born in Cliff House, Staithes to farming parents. He was apprenticed as a solicitor, first in Guisborough, then Yarm and was encouraged to develop the drawing skills he’d practised as a boy.

In 1830 he moved to Whitby to work first for Henry Butcher then for the bankers, Simpson and Chapman where he eventually became Chief Cashier. He continued to draw paint in watercolours and to etch. He is often called the ‘Turner of the North’ because of the influence of that artist on his work. His watercolours are painted with a fine brush, not used to convey detail but an
Impressionist depiction of light and atmosphere, most unusual for the time.

Whilst exhibiting almost exclusively in Whitby, he did have three pictures exhibited in Sussex Street in London. The Pannett Gallery in Whitby has a room devoted to his work, demonstrating what a great and individualistic artist he was. Along with so many ground-breaking Northern
artists, Weatherill needs to be more firmly placed in the history of British art.

© Rosamund Jordan 2010