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Bonington's birthplace
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RICHARD PARKES BONINGTON was born at Arnold in 1801. There are various traditions as to which house was his home, one of which assigns the honour to the house in High-street shown in this picture.
Miss Parker kept an academy for young ladies in Arnold where she was wooed and won by Bonington, the governor of Nottingham prison.
Their son, Richard Parkes Bonington, early developed a passion for drawing, and this interest was to a certain extent guided by his father, for Bonington, senior, was by no means a mean artist.
After various vicissitudes the family removed to Calais about 1817, and thence they migrated to Paris, where young Bonington received his technical training at the Ecole des Beaux Arts.
His work attracted attention and sold rapidly, so that before long he was able to travel far afield, and in 1827 he produced his splendid Venetian pictures.
Falling into ill-health, he sought medical assistance in England, and came to London. But his visit proved fruitless, and he died in London on 23 September, 1828.
Bonington’s pictures are noticeable for their quiet calm and for their accurate representation of natural objects. They have increased in value as the century of his death has passed by, and now they are eagerly bought at almost fabulous prices.