| Newly Acquired Paintings by Durham Born Artist George Fennell Robson
George Fennell Robson (1788-1833) was born in Durham and baptized in St. Mary-le-Bow church.
His mother's gravestone is among those in Durham Museum garden.
Taught to draw in Durham, he became a celebrated artist in London.
Robson exhibited at the Royal Academy and published a print of Durham in 1808.
His watercolour paintings of the Scottish Highlands were published as a book.
On a return visit to North-East England, George Fennell Robson contracted food poisoning in Stockton on Tees and subsequently died. He is buried in St Mary-le-Bow. His monument is in the chancel of the former church that now houses Durham Museum.
Durham Museum displays two paintings by George Fennell Robson, donated by a descendant of the artist.
The first is a self-portrait, likely depicting his Presidency of the Society of Oils and Watercolours in 1813.
The second painting is a copy of the 1801 painting by Sir Thomas Lawrence (now in Tate Britain) of the actor John Kemble as Hamlet. The Kemble family played Shakespeare roles on the Durham stage, in the Georgian theatre on Durham's Drury Lane off Saddler Street.
Durham Museum's paintings by George Fennell Robson has been conserved with the aid of a grant from the AIM Pilgrim Trust Conservation Scheme.
 
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