Richard Parkes Bonington

Honfleur – The Artists – Bonington, Richard Parkes

This page forms part of a series of pages dedicated to the many artists who worked in Honfleur. A full list of all the artists with a link to their works can be found at the bottom of this page.

Richard Parkes Bonington
Richard Parkes Bonington

Movement(s): Romanticism

Richard Parkes Bonington (1802 – 1828) was an English Romantic landscape painter, who moved to France at the age of 14 and can also be considered as a French artist, and an intermediary bringing aspects of English style to France.

Richard Parkes Bonington was born in the town of Arnold, four miles from Nottingham. His father also known as Richard was successively a gaoler, a drawing master and lace-maker, and his mother a teacher. Bonington learned watercolour painting from his father and exhibited paintings at the Liverpool Academy at the age of eleven.

In 1817, Bonington’s family moved to Calais, France, where his father had set up a lace factory. At this time, Bonington started taking lessons from the painter François Louis Thomas Francia, who, having recently returned from England, where he had been deeply influenced by the work of Thomas Girtin, taught him the English watercolour technique.

In 1818, the Bonington family moved to Paris to open a lace shop. There he met and became friends with Eugene Delacroix. He worked for a time producing copies of Dutch and Flemish landscapes in the Louvre. In 1820, he started attending the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris, where he studied under Antoine-Jean, Baron Gros.

In 1825 he met Delacroix on a visit with Alexandre-Marie Colin to London, and they sketched together there, and shared a studio for some months in Paris on their return; Delacroix influenced him in turning to historical painting.

He also developed a technique mixing watercolour with gouache and gum, achieving an effect close to oil painting. In 1826 he visited northern Italy, staying in Venice for a month, and London again in 1827–8.

In late 1828 his tuberculosis worsened and his parents sent him back to London for treatment. Bonington died of tuberculosis on 23 September 1828 at 29 Tottenham Street in London, aged 25.

He was buried in the graveyard of St James’s Chapel Pentonville and in 1837 his remains were translated to Kensal Green Cemetery to be re-interred with his parents.

Bonington had a number of close followers, such as Roqueplan and Isabey in France, and Thomas Shotter Boys, James Holland, William Callow and John Scarlett Davis in England. In addition, there were many copies and forgeries of his work made in the period immediately after his death.

Click here to read Bonington’s full bio on Wikipedia.

NOTE: Click on the image below for a bigger version (no new window will open).

1823 - Richard Parkes Bonington - Near Honfleur
1823 – Richard Parkes Bonington – Near Honfleur

Bonington painted mostly in many cities in France (a link “” to his works in those cities will appear below when published):

Honfleur was (and is) a very picturesque town, so it saw many artists capturing the beauty of this very scenic town. The reason it has so many tourists is obvious…. it’s very pretty. Here are some of the artists that have come to apply their art in the town (a link, symbolized by a ““, to the artist’s works will appear when published. A “*” indicates that the artist did not work directly in Honfleur but instead worked outside of Honfleur in a nearby town).

NOTE: You can subscribe to our new articles by entering your email address in the box on the right column (or at the very bottom of this article) and clicking on the button “Subscribe”.

You will need to check your incoming emails and validate your subscription. If you can’t see an email from us, check your Spam folder. Without validating your email address, you will not get notifications from us. WE WILL NEVER GIVE YOUR EMAIL ADDRESSES TO ANYONE!

Related Posts

  • 94
    Honfleur – The Artists – Turner, WilliamJoseph Mallord William Turner, known contemporarily as William Turner, was an English Romantic painter, printmaker and watercolourist. He is known for his expressive colourisations, imaginative landscapes and turbulent, often violent marine paintings. Here are his paintings he made in Honfleur, Normandy.
  • 92
    Trouville-sur-Mer – The Artists – Bonington, Richard ParkesRichard Parkes Bonington, a British artist who spent most of his life in France, died early (age 25), but managed to paint many paintings. His Romanticism Landscape style made him a popular painter in his generation. Here are some painting of his we found which he made in Trouville-sur-Mer, Normandy.
  • 91
    Honfleur – The Artists – Hervier, Louis AdolpheAdolphe Hervier, in full: Louis-Henri-Victor-Jules-François-Adolphe Hervier was a French painter and engraver, known for his rural genre scenes. Over his lifetime, his style changed from a strict Romanticism to an early type of Impressionism. He was the son of a painter.Despite being Parisian, his favorite painting locations were in Normandy;…
  • 90
    Honfleur – The Artists – Schafer, Henry ThomasHenry Thomas Schafer, aka Henry Thomas Schäfer, was a British painter who travelled extensively in Europe. He painted in quite a few places in France, but very little is known about this artist.
  • 90
    Honfleur – The Artists – Goeneutte, NorbertNorbert Goeneutte was a Paris born painter/etcher, who started out working in a lawyer's office, but this did not suit him. He then started a life as a painter, travelling through Europe. Here is the one painting of his we found that he made in Honfleur, Normandy.
Scroll to Top