John Scarlett Davis or Davies, was an English landscape, portrait

Portrait painting

Portrait painting is a genre in painting, where the intent is to depict the visual appearance of the subject. Beside human beings, animals, pets and even inanimate objects can be chosen as the subject for a portrait...

 and architectural painter, and lithographer.

Life and work

Davis was born in Leominster

Leominster

Leominster is a market town in Herefordshire, England, located approximately north of the city of Hereford and south of Ludlow, at...

, the son of James Davis, a watchmaker; Scarlett was his mother's maiden name. At the age of eleven, Davis won an award from the local society for the encouragement of the arts. He studied at the Royal Academy

Royal Academy

The Royal Academy of Arts is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly, London. The Royal Academy of Arts has a unique position in being an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects whose purpose is to promote the creation, enjoyment and...

 Schools in London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

, and began exhibiting his works at the annual Royal Academy shows in 1825 (with the painting "My Den"). He last exhibited in London in 1844. He was influenced by the work of his contemporary, Richard Parkes Bonington

Richard Parkes Bonington

Richard Parkes Bonington was an English Romantic landscape painter. One of the most influential British artists of his time, the facility of his style was inspired by the old masters, yet was entirely modern in its application.-Life and work:Richard Parkes Bonington was born in the town of Arnold,...

.

Davis painted portraits, landscapes, and church interiors, and developed a distinctive specialty in painting the interiors of art galleries. His picture The Interior of the British Institution Gallery (1829) records a collection of Old Masters. He lithographed and published twelve heads from studies by Rubens

Rubens

Rubens is often used to refer to Peter Paul Rubens , the Flemish artist.Rubens may also refer to:- People :Family name* Paul Rubens Rubens is often used to refer to Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640), the Flemish artist.Rubens may also refer to:- People :Family name* Paul Rubens (composer) Rubens is...

, and in 1832 some views of Bolton Abbey

Bolton Abbey

Bolton Abbey is the estate within which is located the ruined 12th-century Augustinian Bolton Priory in North Yorkshire, England. It gives its name to the parish of Bolton Abbey.-Bolton Priory:...

, drawn from nature on stone. His watercolor of the collection of Benjamin Godfrey Windus (1835) shows the Turner

J. M. W. Turner

Joseph Mallord William Turner RA was an English Romantic landscape painter, watercolourist and printmaker. Turner was considered a controversial figure in his day, but is now regarded as the artist who elevated landscape painting to an eminence rivalling history painting...

 pictures on the walls. (John Ruskin

John Ruskin

John Ruskin was the leading English art critic of the Victorian era, also an art patron, draughtsman, watercolourist, a prominent social thinker and philanthropist. He wrote on subjects ranging from geology to architecture, myth to ornithology, literature to education, and botany to political...

 studied those Turners while writing his Modern Painters

Modern Painters

Modern Painters is book on art by John Ruskin which argues that recent painters emerging from the tradition of the picturesque are superior in the art of landscape to the old masters. The book was primarily written as a defence of the later work of J.M.W. Turner. Ruskin used the book to argue...

.) Davis painted the interiors of the Louvre

Louvre

The Musée du Louvre – in English, the Louvre Museum or simply the Louvre – is one of the world's largest museums, the most visited art museum in the world and a historic monument. A central landmark of Paris, it is located on the Right Bank of the Seine in the 1st arrondissement...

 as well. Between 1842 and 1845 he was commissioned to draw copies of the paintings in the collections of the British royal palaces.

Davis painted scenes on the Continent during his travels there. In 1831 he had a commission from Lord Farnborough

Charles Long, 1st Baron Farnborough

Charles Long, 1st Baron Farnborough GCB PC PC FRS FSA was an English politician and connoisseur of the arts.-Early life:...

 to paint an interior of the Vatican

Holy See

The Holy See is the episcopal jurisdiction of the Catholic Church in Rome, in which its Bishop is commonly known as the Pope. It is the preeminent episcopal see of the Catholic Church, forming the central government of the Church. As such, diplomatically, and in other spheres the Holy See acts and...

 and of the Escurial

Escurial

Escurial is a village in Cáceres, Extremadura, Spain....

. He was in Florence

Florence

Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with approximately 370,000 inhabitants, expanding to over 1.5 million in the metropolitan area....

 in 1834, where he painted the interior of the Uffizi

Uffizi

The Uffizi Gallery , is a museum in Florence, Italy. It is one of the oldest and most famous art museums of the Western world.-History:...

 Gallery, and in Amsterdam

Amsterdam

Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...

 in 1841 (sending the picture "Jack after a successful cruise, visiting his old comrades at Greenwich").

Davis's later years were marred by alcoholism and spells of imprisonment. His posthumous reputation suffered as a result. He died in 1835, aged just 31 years.

Davis's name is almost identical to that of John Scarlett-Davies, a modern video artist and director.

External links

• J S Davis online (ArtCyclopedia)
• Davis's watercolor of the Windus collection.
• A self-portrait.
• Main Gallery at the Louvre (1831, oil on Canvas - Government Art Collection
  Government Art Collection
  The United Kingdom's Government Art Collection places works of art in major Government buildings in the UK and around the world to promote British art, culture and history....
  
  )