Farington, Joseph

About the artist

Name

Farington, Joseph

Biography

Joseph Farington, a landscape painter and prolific diarist, the elder brother of George, was born in 1747 in Leigh in Lancashire. He was a scholar of Richard Wilson, who encouraged him to study the work of Claude Lorrain and to work from nature. From 1778 to 1813 he exhibited constantly at the Royal Academy, where he was elected an associate in 1783, and an Academician in 1785.

He made many sketching tours of the British Isles, including several of Scotland from 1788 onwards. In Edinburgh he particularly admired the Castle and Rock and explored many vantage points from which to draw these.

His other works are chiefly scenes from the Lake District and a series of views of the River Thames for William Combe's history of the river. His death in 1821 in Didsbury, Manchester resulted from a tragic fall.

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