Born in Auckland, New Zealand, the son of a banker, and educated at Queen's College there. He arrived in London in 1901, armed with a bundle of drawings and one editorial introduction. Rountree proceeded to make a unique reputation for himself as an animal artist. His animal drawings, both in colour and black-and white, were sometimes serious, but more often than not were humorous. He was an expert on all aspects of animal, bird and fish life and spent hours at the London Zoo watching his "subjects".
He was a witty, mercurial, bubbling character, "as chirpy", someone once said, "as the sparrows he draws so well". He contributed to numerous magazines and papers, including Punch, The Sketch and The Graphic. He drew many colored covers and inside color plates for the juvenile magazine Little Folks, as well as numerous pictures for children's annuals. He did much of his best work in the coloured comic paper Playtime (1919-1929). Rountree served as a Captain in the Royal Engineers during WWI. He lived for some years in St Ives, Cornwall.
'You do not appear to have any record of Rousseau J J painting in St Ives? Just come accross this exhibit in the 1906 Paris Salon and thought you may be interested as it proves he must have visited Cornwall. I cannot find a reference to him in Cornwall index.' More information welcome!
Vanessa Rousseau Richardson was born in South Africa but now lives in Cornwall. A marine artist, she has developed her own unique impasto style to create three-dimensional artworks on canvas. She also produces decorative art inspired by her South African heritage. She has exhibited at the Shire Hall Gallery in Bodmin.
Caroline Rousseaux was born in London. She has a degree in Fine Art from University College Falmouth. Her art practice is inspired by theatre, folklore and nature. She is currently studying for a Masters Degree in Art & Environment at UCF. In 2011 she founded CArTS (Children's ArT Studio) in Falmouth, which offers creative workships for environmental education for wild cat conservation.
From a family of artists, Claude was brother to the artist Charles, and a grandson of Thomas Leeson Rowbotham. He opened his studio at Upton Slip in about 1896 in Falmouth, and lived at Trevelyan, 6 Woodlane Terrace.
Best known for his aquatints based on travels around the country and abroad (Cornwall, Devon, Lake District, Italy, Yorkshire and Scotland), he first employed young women to hand-colour his prints but later invented a colour printing process. This he partially described in a lecture at the RCPS reprinted in the RCPS Proceedings for 1916.
In 1910 he also exhibited at the RCPS in the watercolour section, and was considered to have a fine talent. The family left Falmouth in 1919 for Berkshire where he continued his work. Rowbotham is a good example of an artist who is never noticed in the reference books as having an established presence in West Cornwall.
A recent correspondent (2012) has identified and described two lovely miniature paintings as exhibiting delicate and great detail, entitled (in pencil) 'At Portscatho' and 'St Just in Roseland'. She had purchased these some years ago at a sale in Wigtown, Scotland.
Another correspondent (2013) has listed the paintings held in their private collection: 'I have six watercolours signed and dated by the above named artist. All are scenes of Cornwall and apart from one have titles as follows: Storm Lelant Cornwall 1909, Evening Mylor Bridge Falmouth 1904, Falmouth Harbour 1909, Kynance Cove Cornwall 1901, Sunset St Mawes Cornwall 1909. The untitled one is signed and dated 1907.' Adding to these findings is yet another (2013) who writes from France to say about A Break in the Clouds - Lizard Downs: 'I should like to inform you that I have the above-named work by Claude Rowbotham in my possession. It was bought by my father probably in the 1950s. It is signed in pencil, undated, measures 3.5 by 2 ins (without the surround) and well preserved. A real little gem.'
This must be the year for discovering CR all over again, as a correspondent from Australia writes: 'I have just purchased an undated, framed and signed 3.5" x 2.25" etching of Mapledurham Mill by above artist, a long way from home here in Tasmania, Australia. Sadly the surround has suffered some slight water damage but that can be fixed!
From Hastings has come the following in (2015): I was given by my aunt some years ago a picture by
Claude Rowbotham which says on the back: "Original Aquatint" by Claude H. Rowbotham. Edition Strictly Limited to 100 signed Artists' Proofs." It is signed under the aquatint and entitled, "Drying the Nets, Cadgwith".
Now in 2016 we have an additional reference to a Cornish watercolour by the artist: "I was interested to read about the information on the artist Claude Rowbotham. I have a watercolour of his which is of Gweek on the Helford and is signed and dated 1897. I inherited it from my father. My father remembers this watercolour hanging in the drawing room of Menheniot vicarage, near Liskeard.... My father was born 1920 so he would recall it from the late 1920's. It also has the original framers label: T. Solomon & Co, Artists Colourmen, Gilders & Picture-frame Makers of 19, King St, Truro. It was refurbished in 1979 but has remained in the same family, probably since original purchase and has only been outside Cornwall for a very short time when I lived in Rutland for five years. I have recently returned to Cornwall and it now hangs on the wall here only a few miles from Gweek."
A correspondent in 2017 has advised us of two limited edition signed artist's proofs in her possession: 'Near Perranporth, Cornwall' and 'Crabbing, Falmouth Beach'. She describes these original aquatints as 'absolute gems, the work is so delicate'. They were bought from a shop in Massachusetts. USA.
A 2018 correspondent has told us of an 8" x 10" aquatint by Rowbotham entitled 'Elter Water and the Langdale Pikes', purchased in the UK.
We were contacted in 2019 by a correspondent in Australia who has purchased a limited edition aquatint signed by Rowbotham entitled 'Chester - the Cathedral'. A further correspondent in 2019 has told us of eight small aquatints which may have been purchased by his grandfather who spent many painting holidays in Crackington Haven, north Cornwall.
A correspondent in the USA (2020) has been in touch with the news that he has an aquatint by Rowbotham entitled 'Misty Night, Percuil Ferry', one of a limited edition of 100.
In 2021 we were contacted by a correspondent who has in her possession a small original aquatint signed by Rowbotham and entitled 'Washing Day - a Court in Fowey'. She believes it would have been bought by her grandfather in Melbourne, Australia, in the 1920s or 1930s.
A further correspondent has some fascinating information about Claude Rowbotham's colourists, mentioned in the second paragraph (above) of this biography. He is the adopted son of one of them, Helen Duguid Spurgin nee Watt, and knew her sisters Hazeline Mary Watt and Emily Watt. The three sisters, who were born around 1900, operated the artist's secret process. Two other sisters, Gwendoline and Caroline, may not have been involved. These young women, whose father was James Watt, a timekeeper at Falmouth Docks, and whose mother was Emily nee Mitchell from Newquay, lived at 33 Wellington Terrace. The studio was in The Bosun's Locker (now a chandlery).
A correspondent in 2022 has told us of a piece by Rowbotham entitled 'Dawn Falmouth Harbour'. A further correspondent (2022) who lives near Cape Cod, USA, has two aquatints by the artist - 'Bray Berks' and 'A Wet Evening, Winchester'. We have heard (2022) of yet another signed aquatint, one of a limited edition of 100 (purchased from a charity shop) entitled 'Anstey's Cove, Devon - Gorse in Bloom'. Another correspondent (2022) tells us that she also has a copy of 'A Break in the Clouds - Lizard Downs' (see above). It was bought at an antiques auction near Stratford-upon-Avon in the 1980s. We have been told of three recently acquired Rowbotham miniatures (2022) - 'Sea Pinks', 'Rainy Sunset - Lizard Downs' and 'Tintagel'.
We were contacted in 2023 by a correspondent who has a Rowbotham aquatint entitled 'Pump Court, Upton Slip, Falmouth', purchased in Bath.
It is excellent to know that this artist's work is still be bought and treasured, and also how important art is in people's lives.
Census records list Louisa as an artist daughter of Sampson T Rowe, a Chemist, and his wife Fanny, and the younger sister of Gertrude (Fanny). She was born in Redruth and was living at Tresarrol House, Drump Road, Redruth at the age of 22.
In the year 1937, when the artist exhibited two paintings at NAG, he also attended the FORBES SCHOOL.
Born in Plymouth, he was educated at Plymouth Public School and King's College, London. He first exhibited with STISA in 1929, having had some success at Liverpool in the previous couple of years.
He lived at Mount Hawke, Truro, writing hundreds of articles on the history of Truro and its surrounding parishes, having made an extensive study of early Cornish newspapers. He was Secretary of the Kernow Society and was keen on archaeology, photographing nearly all the Cornish crosses.
In 1928 at NAG he exhibited The Old Pine and The Three Sisters at the Summer Show. Like Borlase SMART, he was initiated as a Bard at the Gorsedd at Roche Rock in 1933 (depicted by Herbert TRUMAN), his chosen name being Menhyryon (Long-Stones). He contributed to early editions of the Cornish Review, by which time he was serving as the representative of Cornwall on the General Committee of the Celtic Congress.
Rowe was a member of the inner circle of painters around Philip Wilson STEER, and had been with artist colonies at Quimperle and Pont Aven in 1883, before paying working visits to Walberswick in the mid 1880s. At Quimperle he met Norman GARSTIN, who wrote to him in 1884 to encourage him and his close friend Arthur Alfred BURRINGTON to take a look at Newlyn; in October, Rowe arrrived but only spent a short time before departing again.
His sending-in addresses were London (1882), Cookham Dene, Berks (1891), Rotherham, Yorks (1896) and Nottingham (1909). His Cornish titles are primarily of St Ives.
Julian Rowe is a member of Art Space Gallery, a co-operative group based in St Ives.
Cat Rowe studied Art History at Winchester School of Art. This was followed by an MA in Illustration at University College Falmouth. She has exhibited both within the UK and in France, and her work was featured in Cornwall Today (June 2010).
Julia Rowlands works from Krowji Studios in Redruth. She conducts two-day workshops on the expressive use of colour.
In the 1911 census she gave her profession as artist and exhibited with NEAC between 1916 and 1922, when she was living in Cheyne Walk, London. In the 1939 Register she was living on Talland Hill in Polperro and she showed her work at the local 1949 'Foresters Hall' exhibition. She remained living in Polperro until her death in 1956.
Recorded by the St Ives Times as exhibiting two small watercolours in Lanham's Gallery for the St Ives Show Day of 1924: 'two small delicate watercolours, one of shocks of barley with green cliffs beyond and a glimpse of the sea, and one of a mass of yellow and purple flowers in the foreground, with trees behind'.
At River Street, Truro, Cornwall, the Royal Cornwall Museum has a major library on the history of Cornwall, a standing exhibition relating the history of the county through its heritage collections gleaned from the land, its people and their occupations and organisations (in farming, fishing, mining & industrial discoveries and inventions and in the whole span of the visual arts). It also maintains a large permanent collection of art works, paintings and sculptures, etchings and drawings.
The museum has a major collection of photographs of Cornwall and a reasonably comprehensive archive of the Isles of Scilly. Negatives, old glass slides and prints number about 35,000, for which there are comprehensive indexes now being catalogued for on-line access. The collection is in constant demand by publishers, TV companies and the general public, the income from which allows limited money to be spent on new acquisitions so that the collection is always growing. All aspects of Cornwall are covered, topographical and industrial. Its greatest strength is the collection of Herbert HUGHES (died 1937) of Dudley, Worcestershire, who with John Charles BURROW of Camborne, a professional photographer, toured Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly annually, taking photographs as they went. The collection contains a large number of original glass negatives by Burrow of underground mining scenes, the first successful ones taken in Cornwall, some of which were published by Burrow & Thomas in 1893. The photographic section open on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, and prior notice is advised.
Nina Royle obtained an MA in Fine Art from the Slade School of Art. Her paintings on sculpted panels are described as 'an individual expression of landscape, weather, corporality, and time'. She has exhibited at Newlyn Art Gallery and at the Phoenix in Exeter.
Royle is currently (2017) a tutor at the Newlyn School of Art.
Guy Royle was born in Devon but has lived in Cornwall for most of his life. He works from a studio in west Cornwall. At the age of 30, he became assistant to his neighbour, the artist Breon O'CASEY. Over the next 25 years they worked together, and from his mentor Guy learned the craft of jewellery making. Royle uses gold, silver and bronze together with beautifully coloured semi-precious stones in order to create his unique hand-crafted pieces. Those who collect his work consider him to be an artist of exceptional sculptural ability.
Two separate entries for a Miss Rudge indicate that this may be two separate individuals, or it may be the same pupil artist at the FORBES SCHOOL. The first entry is for the year 1916, and the second for 1927; 1937-9.
Margaret Rudge was born in Topsham and died in Honiton. She studied art at Battersea Polytechnic and exhibited with the Society of Women Artists and the Royal Academy. She produced a number of etchings of York and scenes in Cornwall, including 'Cornish Fishing Village'.
Katharine Rudge was born in Shrewsbury. She graduated from Gloucester University with a Masters degree in Fine and Media Arts in 1998. Her work has been exhibited in Sweden and Kenya. She lives in Carnmenellis, near Redruth.
Jenny has only begun to paint for exhibition and sale recently (2012) but is having some success in showing her work locally in Penzance at Daphne's Antiques on Chapel Street.
Her rustic scenes of buildings and doorways are evocative of rural life in old Cornwall and France. She paints in all media, including oil on slate (from her cottage roof).
Penny Rumble is a painter of seascapes in oils. She works from a studio near Penzance.
An artist who studied in the BA Fine Art programme at University College Falmouth, and who was one of five exhibitors in the 'Silent Signals' exhibition at the Crypt Gallery, St Ives (Dec 2010).
Russell was Canadian-born and began his training at Halifax School of Art, followed by the School of Art in Boston, Massachusetts. In 1911 he left Canada to study in Paris, at the Academie Julian and the Academie Colarossi. At the outbreak of World War I he moved to London where he was commissioned by Lord Beaverbrook to act as an official war artist for the Canadian Government. His paintings of northern France in 1918 were featured in the Canadian War Exhibition at the Royal Academy in 1919, with many examples now in the possession of the Canadian War Museum.
During the 1920s and 1930s he worked as an artist in film studios, designing railway posters, lecturing and writing. World War II was spent as an acting petty officer in the Royal Navy Patrol Service. In 1944 Russell, now married, moved to Yorkshire, continuing his career as an artist and lecturer at Doncaster School of Art.
During the years 1949 to 1953 he paid many visits to Cornwall from his home in Yorkshire. Polperro and Mevagissey became his favoured locations. A 1949 article, in a series that he produced for The Artist magazine on 'Sketching Out of Doors' contained an image of a sepia wash sketch of Polperro from Chapel Steps, and a sketch of Mevagissey. He travelled around Cornwall in a gypsy caravan, producing railway posters advertising the charms of local fishing ports.
In 1953 Russell moved to Penarth in south Wales and visited Cornwall less regularly. He continued to paint until his death in 1970.
The artist served on the Arts Club committee when Henry Harewood ROBINSON was President (1897) and was a member of the Entertainments Committee in 1906. Once the war effort was underway, Russell and fellow artist Sarah Elizabeth WHITEHOUSE presented paintings which were sold on behalf of the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry Corps stationed at Calais.
At the St Ives Show Day of 1915, the artist exhibited Land's End and a study of Hayle, and in October of that year he showed Marazion Marshes at the Royal Institute of Oil Painters in Piccadilly, London. His address was Westcott's Quay, St Ives.
Eleanor Russell-Hsieh grew up in south-east Cornwall but moved to London to study paper conservation at Camberwell College of Arts. She worked for 13 years as a paper conservator at institutions such as the British Museum, British Library and Natural History Museum. She moved back to Cornwall in 2013, settling near Liskeard.
David Rust is a watercolourist who was born in Lincolnshire. During the early 1960s he studied at Loughborough College of Art. He moved to Cornwall in 1990 and works from a studio overlooking St Michaels Mount. Rust's landscapes are exhibited regularly at Tregony Gallery on the Roseland Peninsula and at Trelissick Gallery near Truro.
The son of an artist, Ruszkowski was born in Tomaszow Mazowiecki, Poland, on 5 February 1907. He studied at the Cracow Academy of Fine Arts (1924-9) and continued his studies at the Warsaw Academy of Fine Arts from 1930 to 1932. On the death of his father, a small inheritance enabled him to travel to Paris in 1935. When World War II broke out he joined the Polish Army in France. When France was invaded, he escaped to Spain and made his way to Scotland where, in 1941, he re-joined the army.
In 1944 he moved to London, holding his first one-man exhibition there in 1948. The next year, he rented a Newlyn studio from a friend for two summers. Paintings from this period are held in the Simonow Collection (France) and include Cornish Landscape (1949), House in Newlyn (1950), Penzance Beach (1950) and Three Girls against the Wind (Newlyn, Cornwall) (1952).
Ruszkowski died in London, aged 84, on 18 May 1991.