Samuel James Ainsley (1806–1874) was a British sketch artist, watercolourist, and printmaker, known for his Romantic sketches and watercolours of tombs, monuments, and landscapes in Italy.
Samuel James Ainsley | |
---|---|
Born | 22 February 1806 Cripplegate, London |
Died | 1874 |
Nationality | British |
Known for | Italian landscapes |
Movement | Romanticism |
He exhibited at the Royal Academy of Arts in 1836 and 1844.[1]
From 1842 to 1844 Ainsley, on three separate trips, accompanied George Dennis in investigating tombs and monuments from ancient Etruria, the Etruscan civilization.[2] From 1844 to 1847 Dennis, unaccompanied by Ainsley, continued to travel in Italy and investigate the ruins and cemeteries of Etruria. In 1848 the British Museum published a 1,085 page treatise Cities and cemeteries of Etruria, with text by Dennis (partly based upon notes by Ainsley) and sketches by Dennis and Ainsley.[3]
In 1842 Ainsley accompanied the artist Thomas Cole on a six-week trip to Sicily, where they made many sketches. They visited the ruins at Selinus and Agrigento[4] and made a nocturnal ascent of Mount Etna.[5]
According to Massimo Pallottino, the fundamental note of Ainsley's works is often that of "depopulated solitude".[6]
He bequeathed his drawings, prints and sketchbooks (comprising over 200 items) to the British Museum.[7] Some of Ainsley's drawings and watercolours have been of lasting value to Italian field-workers studying the rock cemeteries of Middle Etruria.[2]