FREDERICK CHRISTIAN LEWIS British, 1779-1856 Crossing the Stream, Huntsmen and Hounds at the Ford Oil on canvas An oil on canvas by Frederick Christian Lewis (as inscribed on the gilt frame plaque) and signed lower left "F.C. LEWIS." , depicting two red-coated huntsmen on horseback leaping a stream with hounds crossing the water in full pursuit, set within a verdant English riverside landscape, presented in a gilt frame. 11.25 in H x 15.75 in W. Frame is approximately 17.5 in H x 21.75 in W. $250-350
ARTIST PROFILE: Frederick Christian Lewis (1779–1856): Born in London on 14 March 1779, Frederick Christian Lewis was an English engraver and landscape painter who studied under J. C. Stadler, an eminent aquatint engraver, and in the schools of the Royal Academy. He first gained notice with his aquatints after Thomas Girtin's designs, published in 1803 as Twenty of the Most Picturesque Views in Paris and its Environs, and went on to become a principal engraver for William Ottley's three-volume work on Renaissance art, The Italian School of Design, from 1808 to 1823. He contributed to J. M. W. Turner's Liber Studiorum, a collection of seventy-one etchings with mezzotint that greatly influenced landscape painting, and engraved Sir Thomas Lawrence's crayon portraits, later becoming engraver of drawings to Princess Charlotte, Prince Leopold, George IV, William IV, and Queen Victoria. Alongside his engraving work, he devoted part of his career to landscape painting in both oils and watercolours, exhibiting widely at the Royal Academy, the British Institution, and the Old Water-Colour Society, with the scenery of Devonshire chiefly occupying his later work. He came from a family of artists including his sons John Frederick Lewis, a noted Orientalist painter, and Charles George Lewis, also an engraver. He died in Middlesex, aged 77.
