James Clarke Hook, RA

James Clarke Hook, RA

Otto Theodore Leyde

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Leyde's etching reproduces Millais's sensitive portrait of a fellow artist, exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1883 (now private collection). Hook's seaside landscapes and genre pictures celebrating the virtues of humble people, were widely admired by his Victorian contemporaries. Praised by both Baudelaire and Ruskin, his paintings remain under appreciated today. The artist's dedication to the out-doors and reforming character are suggested by his rough suit and direct expression (a life-long Methodist and political Liberal, Hook organized regular public meetings at his home in Churt to benefit his humbler neighbors).

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

James Clarke Hook, RAJames Clarke Hook, RAJames Clarke Hook, RAJames Clarke Hook, RAJames Clarke Hook, RA

The Department’s vast collection of works on paper comprises approximately 21,000 drawings, 1.2 million prints, and 12,000 illustrated books created in Europe and the Americas from about 1400 to the present day. Since its foundation in 1916, the Department has been committed to collecting a wide range of works on paper, which includes both pieces that are incredibly rare and lauded for their aesthetic appeal, as well as material that is more popular, functional, and ephemeral. The broad scope of the department’s collecting encourages questions of connoisseurship as well as those pertaining to function and context, and demonstrates the vital role that prints, drawings, and illustrated books have played throughout history.