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The name of William Shayer has been linked with Morland, Ibbeston and Wheatley, all great English landscape painters of the 18th century. In his own right, Shayer is one of our first-class rural artists, with a delightful style and composition entirely his own, and completely free from imitation. He is at his best depicting the rural life of Hampshire and the New Forest; the countrymen and women going about their daily tasks, or resting in the shade of leafy boughs, faces shaded by big rustic hats; stopping at the inn on their return from market, or urging on teams of horses hauling timber. His pictures express the great love and sympathy he had for the countryside and its people, and his wonderful sense of draughtsmanship and the perfect balance of his palette enabled him to reproduce the very spirit of what he observed - the translucence of reflected light, the sandy bank and filtered sunlight of the forest lanes. Although he did not exhibit until well into his thirties, his work achieved considerable success and much praise from the art critics of his day. He did exhibit over two hundred paintings in his lifetime, and showed at the Royal Academy, the British Institution, the Society of British Artists and Suffolk Street. He sometimes painted with E C Williams, the one painting the landscape and the other painting the figures. His paintings have always been highly sought after and today his work is valued for its accurate representation of rural life in the first three-quarters of the 19th century. His works can be found in many galleries, museums and private collections throughout the world, including The Victoria and Albert Museum, London; Montreal; Glasgow and Leicester |
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