Portrait by an unknown artist (undated), Norfolk Museums Collections
Born
May 1764
Norwich
Died
6 May 1840(1840-05-06) (aged 75–76)
Norwich
Resting place
Rosary Cemetery, Norwich
Nationality
English
Education
Norwich Grammar School
Alma mater
Royal Academy (disputed)
Known for
Still life, topographical drawings of Norwich
Movement
Norwich School of painters
Spouse
Ann Banyard
Elected
Norwich Society of Artists from 1806 (Vice-President 1814, President 1815)
James Sillett (before 16 May 1764 – 6 May 1840) was an English still life and landscape artist. He showed himself to be one of the most versatile of the Norwich School of painters: although the great majority of his works were still lifes and landscapes, he was also a drawing master and a miniaturist. His botanical paintings illustrations have been praised for their accuracy and attention to detail. These and his still life paintings are considered to be his best work, with some experts ranking him with William Jackson Hooker, whose illustrations were both accurate and charming. Sillett's own accurate depictions of plants were often used for book illustrations. His paintings often have an academic style, influenced by the masters of the eighteenth century in a way that set him apart from his Norwich contemporaries. He exhibited at the Royal Academy between 1796 and 1837.
Born and educated in Norwich, where he spent much of his career, Sillett initially worked as an apprentice to a Norwich heraldic painter before moving to London, where he was employed as a copyist by the Polygraphic Society. Together with the Norwich artist William Capon, he painted scenery at Drury Lane and Covent Garden. He claimed to have studied at the Royal Academy from 1787 to 1790, but evidence for this is lacking.
In 1801 he married Ann Banyard of East Dereham. In 1804 they returned from London to Norfolk to live in King's Lynn, where Sillett produced illustrations for Richards' History of Lynn. In 1811 he settled with his family in Norwich. There, he was elected as a member of the Norwich Society of Artists, becoming its vice-president in 1814 and its president the following year. He published A Grammar to Flower Painting, and Views of the Churches, Chapels and Other Public Edifices in the City of Norwich: his topographical drawings are regarded as an accurate and valuable record of much of the city's lost nineteenth century architecture. He died in 1840 and was buried in the city's Rosary Cemetery. His daughter Emma Sillett, who survived him, also painted flowers and was said to have been her father's greatest rival.
JamesSillett (before 16 May 1764 – 6 May 1840) was an English still life and landscape artist. He showed himself to be one of the most versatile of the...
English painter JamesSillett (1764–1840), English painter John Sillett (1936–2021), English football player and manager Keith Sillett (born 1929), Australian...
JamesSillett Alfred Stannard Alfred George Stannard Eloise Harriet Stannard Emily Stannard (Emily Coppin) Joseph Stannard Arthur James Stark James Stark...
Mercury in August 1818. In 1816, Stannard, Robert Ladbrooke and his sons, JamesSillett and John Thirtle seceded from the Norwich Society of Artists to form...
The Reverend James Bulwer (21 March 1794 – 11 June 1879) was an English collector, naturalist, artist and conchologist. He was a close friend and patron...
Caillebotte, (1848–1894), Yellow Roses in a Vase (1882), Dallas Museum of Art JamesSillett, Tulips in a Vase, with a Caterpillar (undated), Norfolk Museums Collections...
of his pupils. In London, Cotman developed friendships with the artists James Stark, George Cattermole, Samuel Prout, and Cornelius Varley. In 1836, he...
painter Artists belonging to the Norwich School of painters, including JamesSillett (1764-1840), John Crome (1768–1821), John Thirtle (1777-1839), John...
mannered” in the 1840s and 1850s; her only rivals were the Norwich born JamesSillett, and his daughter Emma. The Norfolk Museums Collections is the only...
siblings having died as infants, of Ann Banyard and the painter JamesSillett. Emma Sillett was taught painting by her father and would eventually assist...
cream-coloured Caen limestone a pink colour.[dead link] In 1480 the bishop, James Goldwell, ordered the building of a new spire which is still in place today...
framed by Thirtle, including those by Cotman, John Crome, Thomas Lound, JamesSillett, and Joseph Stannard. When Thirtle framed George Vincent's oil painting...
group that also included Robert Dixon, Charles Hodgson, Daniel Coppin, James Stark and George Vincent. Their first exhibition was in 1805; it marked...
group that also included Coppin as well as Robert Dixon, Charles Hodgson, James Stark and George Vincent. Their first exhibition, in 1805, marked the start...
artists were John Crome, Joseph Stannard, George Vincent, Robert Ladbrooke, James Stark, John Thirtle and John Sell Cotman, along with Cotman's sons Miles...
group that also included Robert Dixon, Charles Hodgson, Daniel Coppin, James Stark and George Vincent. Their first exhibition, in 1805, marked the start...
4 June 1955 (1955-06-04) St. Jakob Stadium, Basel Team Ron Reynolds (Tottenham), Peter Sillett (Chelsea), Jim Fotheringham (Arsenal), Stan Willemse (Chelsea), Ken Armstrong...
The Norwich school; John ("Old") Crome, John Sell Cotman, George Vincent, James Stark, J. Berney Crome, John Thirtle, R. Ladbrooke, David Hodgson, M.E....
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