Malvern

James Bourne (1773-1854) was a British watercolour artist, drawing master and later Methodist minister. Born in Lincolnshire, Bourne moved between London and Manchester before finally settling down in London in 1796. With an interest in the Methodist Movement and offers for an army commission and a place at St. John’s College, Cambridge, his decision to become an artist appears to be a rather sudden choice. However, it offered him stability and the means to support his family, especially after being employed as drawing master by the Countess of Sutherland and Lord Spencer in London.

Bourne started exhibiting at the Royal Academy from 1800 and undertook regular sketching tours within Britain, including to the Lake District, Surrey, Kent and Yorkshire. This work, showing the building of the Great Malvern Priory in the middle of a scenic landscape, would have most likely been completed on one of those trips. Malvern is a spa town in Worcestershire and is depicted here in a picturesque setting with a prominent hill framing the old monastery building. While his soft colouring is used here to portray the sense of atmospheric perspective, Bourne’s palette became increasingly monochromatic during the later years of his career.

In 1838 he gave up painting altogether and became a minister of the Methodist Church.

Further reading:

Liversidge, M.J.H. (1966), ‘James Bourne (1773-1854): an assessment of his life and work’, The Connoisseur 163: 161-5.

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