Anthony Vandyke Copley Fielding

Anthony Fielding was born in Yorkshire in 1787. He learned to paint by copying his father’s landscapes and received instruction fromJohn Varley. Fielding toured north Wales as a young man at twenty-one in 1808. He moved to London in 1810 and was elected associate of the Society of Painters in Water Colours. He made numerous trips within England and visited north Wales again in 1811. Fielding painted some oil paintings, such as A Scene on the Coast, Merionethshire - Storm Passing Off 1818, which were shown at the Royal Academy and the British Institution. He was better known for his prolific output in watercolors, shown at the Society of Painters in Water Colours, of which he became the deputy president in 1823 and 1831. Fielding’s watercolor landscapes were extremely popular, despite the voices of critics who called his art formulaic. Many have noted their parallels with works by J. M. W. Turner.