Ruins

James Baynes (1766-1837) was a British painter and drawing teacher. His talents for art were discovered at a young age by local physician Dr. Campbell, who subsequently helped him to become a pupil of the portrait painter George Romney in London. From 1784 Baynes also studied at the Royal Academy. He eventually became a drawing master himself, with students such as John Wood, Sir Henry Sass and J.D. Harding.

In 1798/99 he joined John Varley (1778-1842), another prominent painter and art teacher, on a sketching tour of Wales. Baynes specialised in watercolour landscapes, often introducing elements such as figures or farmhouses for romantic effect.

In Ruins he uses the language and concepts of the picturesque ruin, such as plants growing on the crumbling masonry and a figure with a downward glance walking melancholically through the remnants of the past. However, the architectural remains depicted here are of a Gothic or Romanesque building that could have once stood in Britain itself, rather than the more commonly used ancient Roman or Greek structures. This is part of a wider resurgence of interest in local English architecture and history during the nineteenth century.

Further reading:

Mallalieu, H.L. (1986), The Dictionary of British Watercolour Artists up to 1920: Volume I – The Text, 2nd edition, Suffolk: Antique Collectors’ Club.