Humphry Repton
(1752-1818), Landscape gardenerSitter associated with 2 portraits
Forced to turn to gardening to avoid poverty, Humphry Repton became a highly successful landscape designer and writer on gardening. He admired 'Capability' Brown and combined features from Brown's landscapes with the new varied aesthetic of the picturesque to create a style that was beautiful, practical and exciting. An innovator and keen entrepreneur, Repton made watercolour illustrations with paper flaps that allowed the client to compare the views 'before' and 'after' his improvements. Presented in Repton's 'Red Books', these watercolours were a resounding commercial success among clients and a wider public.
Unknown man, formerly known as Humphry Repton
by Samuel Shelley
watercolour, circa 1800
NPG 4247
by Henry Bryan Hall, published by Longman & Co, after Samuel Shelley
stipple and line engraving, published 1839
NPG D5801
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