The Subject

Whitefriars, at the top of Gulson Road, Coventry, was built by the Carmelite Friars from 1342 as a church, cloisters and domestic buildings. In 1539 King Henry VIII closed down all Monastries and Friaries, including this one. The buildings and land were bought by John Hales. He converted the main building into a large private house. It was visited by Queen Elizabeth I who would have walked in this cloister. In 1801 it became the house for the poor of Coventry, and it was the local 'workhouse' for very many years.

The Artist

The Reverend William Bree was one of the very best of the early amateur painters. He was born at Allesley near Coventry on 10 Januuary 1754, son of Rev. Thomas Bree and Ann (nee Blencowe). He was educated at Balliol College, Oxford, and on 7 August 1783 married Elizabeth Mallory. He died on 22 November 1822.

He succeeded his elder brother (and his father before him) as Rector of Allesley in 1808. He is recorded as having been Curate at Great Packington (the private chapel of Lord Aylesford, his college artist-friend) between 1795 and 1799. He was Vicar at Bickenhill 1779-1822.

On 27 April 1808 the Bishop of Peterborough also granted him a licence to absent him from his benefice of Marston St. Lawrence near Brackley, Northants.

Bree shares with Sir George Beaumont the claim to be the greatest of the amateur painters - amateurs in the old sense of the word, achievement for the love of it, not as a trade. Despite his spiritual work he clearly had time to devote to artistic pursuits.

Works by the artist

The Herbert holds a collection of 15 views by Bree, and an album of his views of Maxstoke Priory. Some of these are coloured in muted tones of mixtures of yellow ochre, red ochre and diluted indian ink. Many are purely in washes of indian ink, as with this work. Early artists in watercolour usually began with an outline in pencil or ink. They worked up the shades first in pale washes of indian ink. The last stage was to add tints of colour, but many early watercolour painters very often finished their works just in shade of grey, called 'monochrome' or 'grisaille'.

This little view came up for sale in 1993, and since it is of local interest and by a fine local artist we saved it for the city.