The Book (1920) by William Lee-Hankey

Born in Chester, England in 1869, Lee-Hankey was a painter and printmaker. He studied at Chester College of Art, the Royal College of Art, and in Paris. Influenced by the French artist Jules Bastien-Lepage (1848-1884), Lee-Hankey moved to France in the early 1900s where he produced a body of work portraying French villages and Breton peasants. Bastien-Lepage had painted peasant life in an academic realist manner - a style which was popular with a number of British artists. These included members of the Newlyn school, to which Lee-Hankey belonged. Established in 1885, the Newlyn school was a group of artists centred around the Cornish village of Newlyn. This group of artists was drawn to Cornwall, a picturesque corner of England which had been recently opened up by a new railroad line. They were interested in capturing the local villagers and their rustic surroundings. It was a sentimental view of rural life echoed by romantic poets of the time like Keats and Wordsworth. The artists of the Newlyn school were described as tonality, drawing "atmosphere and truth". While they espoused the impressionistic doctrine of painting their subjects plein air (from life), they also lived among their subjects as Bastien-Lepage had done. Back in England, Lee-Hankey taught etching at London Goldsmith's college and exhibited frequently at the Royal Academy. His figure study etchings show great technical virtuosity. He died in 1952.