He sold the entire room to the American collector Charles Lang Freer in 1904. Peacocks, Porcelain, and the Freerĭespite the glory of the Peacock Room, Leyland was apparently not a happy customer. It also includes an easel painting by Whistler, The Princess from the Land of Porcelain, depicting a young woman in Japanese-style clothing and setting. The room epitomizes the sophistication of the Aesthetic movement at its finest. Even the ceiling and shutters have decorative motifs reminiscent of a peacock’s plumage. Several of the dark blue walls are decorated with magnificent gold peacocks, painted in a style inspired by Asian art. Leyland, for whom it was both a dining room and showcase for his collection of Chinese blue-and-white porcelain. He designed and executed it for the English industrialist Frederick R. These peacocks are so fabulous that they have an entire room dedicated to them! The Peacock Room is a full-room work of art by James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903), who characteristically titled it Harmony in Blue and Gold. His original paintings for the series, along with the notes for his abandoned book, now live at the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art. He just continued on painting more hummingbirds instead. Several images from The Gems of Brazil were eventually made into chromolithographic reproductions, though Heade’s plans for an Audubon-style book never came to pass. In a time before high-def cameras with quick shutter speeds, it’s a wonder that Heade managed to capture his hummingbirds in so much detail. However, anybody who has ever seen a hummingbird in real life will know that they flap their wings so fast as to appear blurry to the naked eye.

This is certainly a more humane practice than killing and stuffing them, as some other artists did. Supposedly he painted all the birds from life. During his 1863-4 visit to Brazil, he created a series of 16 works with the fitting title The Gems of Brazil 15 of them depict hummingbirds. His work continues to be recognised around the UK, and with the help of social media followers from all over the world.Heade loved hummingbirds, and who can blame him? He painted them over and over again, often in combination with orchids and other tropical flowers. After taking workshops with Dirk Dzimirsky in Germany and Kevin Okafor, Simon has taken on the use of charcoal to increase detail, depth and most of all, emotion.īy 2022, 10 years after beginning drawing, Simon has a varied portfolio of portraits, seascapes and animals.

His quest for developing his skills and of finding his own style and footprint led him to research the work of other artists.Īs he researched, he realised his images needed to be more realistic and knew there was more hard work to be done. His first commission captured the essence perfectly of the couple he drew, and people started to take notice. Each piece takes 40-120 meticulous hours. He took on his first Commission in the Summer of 2014, 18 months after he started drawing. Drawing on the inspiration of an established Hyper realist Pencil Artist, Simon’s work is making statements in their own right. Hyper-realism, are drawings that go beyond what is seen in a photo. What you see today, in galleries and restaurants across his native Cornwall, UK or in the private commissions of those that have been entranced by his work, is testament to his passion for his pencils and his new found love of the technique known as Hyper-realism. In 2012 Simon reached for the pencils again.

He moved to Cornwall in 1980 and after he failed GCSE art, it was no longer a keen interest. Learn more Simon Knight Art Born In Cheltenham, Gloucestershire in January 1972, from an early age Simon was always interested in drawing and doodling.

Hyper surrealism owl sketch