George Hemming Mason
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George Hemming Mason (11 March 1818, Witley, Staffordshire-22 October 1872, 7 Theresa Terrace, London) was an English rustic painter. His specialism was landscapes, early on ones of Italy, and later of England. He became an ARA in 1869.
[edit] Life
He trained at first to be a doctor, but gave up his medical training in 1843 to travel to France, Switzerland and finally Italy on the continent with his brother Frederick Miles Mason studying art. Caught up in the Risorgimento against foreign rule of Italy, Frederick joined the Roman legion to fight against the Austrians and George attended to the wounded during the French siege of Rome in 1849. George still found time to travel in Rome and its surrounding countryside, though absolute poverty due to a family financial crisis back in the UK forced him into painting as the only available means of supporting himself. He eventually joined a circle of other Italophile English expatriates such as David Watts Russell, William Cornwallis Cartwright and Frederic Leighton and of Italian artists such as Giovanni Costa. George then meandered back for a brief visit to the UK via Paris (seeing the 1855 Universal Exhibition there and studying works in the show by Antoine Hébert, Gabriel-Alexandre Decamps and other contemporary French artists) before spending further time in Italy. He moved back to England for good in 1858, marrying his cousin Mary Emma Wood in August that year.
