Frederick Richard Lee

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Frederick Richard Lee (10 June 1798 – 5 June 1879) was born in Barnstaple, Devon. Son of Thomas Lee (Snr) (a well-known architect who 'retired' to the Barnstaple area) and brother of Thomas Lee (Jnr) (another well-known architect) Frederick was enrolled as a student in the Royal Academy on 16th January 1818, aged a mere 19 years. Although no dated paintings are recorded from this time, by the time of his election as ARA on 3rd November 1834, at least six dated paintings existed. One of F.R. Lee's paintings from this time is Bringing in the Stag, in oil, measuring 38 cm x 51 cm (1830) and available for public view at the Tate Gallery in London).

Lee was elected to full membership of the Royal Academy on 10 February 1838. A further seven paintings have been documented as painted by Lee before this date, again as oils, mainly on canvas. The Tate Gallery has an example from this period of his career in Sea Coast Sunrise, which is also painted in oil and is 85 cm x 109 cm (1834).

Frederick Lee is known to have produced a further 40 dated paintings over the next 30 years. In addition to the dated paintings, a further 50 paintings are known to exist for which no date has been identified, including Lake in a Park at the Tate.

Paintings by Lee available for public viewing are (in chronological order):

Displayed at	Name	Size	Date
Tate Gallery	Cover Side	48cm x 40cm	1839
Tate Gallery	Evening in the Meadows	93cm x 122cm	1854
Tate Gallery	A River Scene	127cm x 183cm	1855
Norwich Castle	Mill on Ogwen River	25cm x 35cm	1857
de Young Museum, San Francisco	The Overhanging Trees	84.5cm x 109.9cm	1865
Met Museum	Garibaldi's Residence in Caprera	87cm x 138.1cm	1865
Barnstaple Museum	The River Taw, and the North Devon Railway		1868
Royal Academy	Morning in the Meadows	112cm x183cm	1869

Lee was a prolific artist, based on the number of oil paintings he is known to have produced, both on canvas and on board. His subject matters were clearly influenced by those which also intrigued John Constable and other contemporaries.

Some of Lee's more notable paintings were a collaboration with Thomas Sidney Cooper and Sir Edwin Landseer, Lee painting the landscape and Cooper and Landseer adding the animals. Landscapes and pastoral scenes form the majority of his painting interest, with some exceptions, for example, Cover Side, The Campfire and Gypsy Tent.

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Scottish scenes figured prominently as subjects for Lee, but he also travelled extensively elsewhere in Britain and the continent: 'Gillingham Mill, Dorset', 'North Duffield Bridge, Derbyshire', 'Swiss Bridge, Lynedock', 'Fulford Park, Exeter', 'Benmore looking up Glen Dochart', 'Shattered Oak in Bedfordshire', 'Sleaford, Lincolnshire', 'Rock of Gibraltar' and 'Pont du Gard'.

Lee also spent considerable time at Penshurst, Kent where a number of his paintings originate. His wife Harriet Eves Lee was buried in the churchyard there (at plot 147) after her death in 1850.

The painting featured above is Shattered Oak in Bedfordshire reproduced here as a public-domain image with permission of the owner, for others to enjoy. The painting was found recently after being unrecognised in a private dwelling for over 70 years. The picture is framed, oil on board, and measures 45 cm x 70 cm and signed "F R Lee RA 1851".

Lee's life has been documented elsewhere, and the popularity of his painting remains his lasting legacy. Many of his works have brought substantial prices when sold in recent times. He had a long career with over 90 identified paintings to his credit, compared to John Constable with only around 20 paintings. However, some recent information has come to light detailing more than 300 of his paintings, suggesting many still reside in private hands or in the unpublished care of museums/National Trust properties. The Constable influence remained throughout his career and he was apparently not tempted to follow the Turner impressionist style, but remained true to his original interests despite the industrial revolution taking place around him.

Lee's paintings were much in demand during his life-time, and he was certainly not a poor, struggling artist — he appears to have been fairly well-off at the end of his career. Perhaps another aspect to his painting style and prolific output could have been financial — he knew his market, and he painted the subjects in the style which he knew would be popular.

During the last 15 years of his life, Frederick shared his time between three places of residence; Broadgate House, his yacht and South Africa where he owned several farms. Lee retired on 1st December 1871 and died and was buried near Wellington in South Africa on 5 June 1879. Only three photographic portraits of Frederick Richard Lee have survived, and they can be found in the National Portrait Gallery (London).