Rating and value of marine paintings by Richard Parkes Bonington

If you own a marine painting by or after Richard Parkes Bonington, and would like to know its value, our state-approved experts and auctioneers will offer you their appraisal services.

Our specialists will carry out a free appraisal of your work, and provide you with an accurate estimate of its value on the current market.

Then, should you wish to sell your work, we will direct you to the best possible arrangement to obtain the optimum price.

Rating and value of artist Richard Parkes Bonington  

Bonington leaves behind a romantic oeuvre, much inspired by the sea. Prices for his works are now skyrocketing under auctioneers' hammers. His paintings are highly prized, especially by English buyers.

The price at which they sell on the art market ranges from €40 to €5,335,070, a very substantial range but one that speaks volumes about the value that can be attributed to Bonington's works.

In 2022, his marine painting Picardy Coast with Children - Sunrise, sold for €2,262,620. His rating is high and stable.  

Order of value from a simple work to the most prestigious

Style and technique of artist Richard Parkes Bonington   

Bonington is a painter who belongs to the Romantic movement, drawing much inspiration from Flemish and Venetian painters. He painted a great deal inspired by the sea, boats and sailors  he is one of the most eminent marine painters England has ever known.

He embodies an original synthesis between the British tradition of payasage (Turner, Constable) and the French sensibility of the early 19th century. He excelled at depicting coastlines, rivers, cloudy skies and beach scenes, which are often bathed in subtle light.

In his later years, he also tried his hand at more narrative and exotic subjects, which were influenced by Delacroix and the Romantic taste for elsewhere.

He does not work exclusively in oil on canvas, but also excels in the medium of aquerelle, developing a brilliant, fluid technique, very free for its time, that profoundly influences French and English watercolorists.

He works on the spot, often painting en plein air, capturing changing light and atmospheric effects, anticipating certain impressinnist practices. His brushstrokes are quick and luminous  in oil painting, he employs light, sometimes sketchy strokes, which lend great freshness to his works.

His palette is clear and predominantly silver, and the colors he uses are soft, dominated by grayish blues, bluish beiges, pale yellows and faded pinks, which constitute a luminous harmony without overload.

Bonington's work is the result of cross-fertilizing influences. It builds a bridge between England and France, introducing the English landscape tradition into Parisian artistic circles, notably around Gros and Delacroix.

He is precisely very close to the latter, and admires his sense of color and freedom of facture, and considers him one of the most promising painters of his time.

His style is constantly evolving  despite his death at 25, Bonington moves rapidly from pure landscape to romantic subject, and from sketch to refined sketch. He always sought to express much with little : a touch, a light, a mist are enough to create an atmosphere.

The elegance of his compositions is spontaneous, his style acquires the lightness of a breath, between mastery and apparent casualness, making him one of the great precursors of landscape modernity.

Richard Parkes Bonington, representing the sea through romanticism

Richard Parkes Bonington (1802 - 1828), was an English marine painter of the 19th century.

Despite the brevity of his career, Bonington remains a highly celebrated and renowned marine painter. He was born in Nottingham Bay. His father worked in a succession of trades, and it was he who introduced him to watercolors.

At the age of 11, he exhibited watercolors and paintings in Liverpool. His family moved to Calais four years later, where he took painting lessons from François Louis Thomas Francia.

He learns watercolor landscapes from him, a technique that is at odds with the academic canons of the time. He moves to Paris at 16, and meets Eugène Delacroix, who will become his friend for the rest of his life.

They naturally influenced each other's work. He copied Dutch and Flemish landscapes, which were to have a major influence on his paintings.

The following year, at the age of 17, he entered Baron Gros's studio as a pupil, but quarreled with him over academic rules and left the studio. He then lived with Paul Huet, and traveled to Normandy and the Breton coast to find inspiration as Mathurin Janssaud.

He exhibited at the Paris Salon in 1822 and was very successful. In 1925, he received a gold medal from Charles X, an award also received by John Constable.

He died of tuberculosis in 1828, aged 25. 

Focus on La plage de Trouville, R.P. Bonington, circa 1825 - 1826

La plage de Trouville is a lively coastal scene, depicting a view of a Normandy beach with beached boats, sailors and a few passers-by. It is an everyday, unemphasized scene.

The arrangement of the elements is fluid, the horizon low, freeing up a vast sky. The elements are arranged freely, without geometric rigor, giving a sense of space and spontaneity.

The human presence is discreet, the figures are dodged, often from behind or in silhoutte, and absorbed in the activity of the shoreline.

The atmosphere is vaporous, Bonington captures a soft, changing light, typical of the Normandy climate, with a diffuse haze effect over the whole are sometimes blurred, as if blurred by humidity or mist.

The brushstrokes are quick and airy, sometimes transparent, giving the painting the impression of a moment caught on the spot.

The palette's tones are fresh and silvery, the range dominated by bluish grays, sandy beiges and washed-out browns, which form a harmonious palette without harsh constrast.

The paint is applied in thin layers, without impasto, the oil is worked almost like a watercolor, with supple gradations and a luminous rendering. The wet sand, the shadows cast in the water and the reflections of the sky all contribute to creating a lively, moving atmosphere.

Bonington does not seek to magnify the sea or the port, but paints the sea as we see it, in a calm banality and under a fragile light. Halfway between documentary and dream, the work evokes the simple life of the riavges, without anecdote but with emotion.

This work will have an influence on modernity : this way of painting the sea without heroes, without pathos will influence Boudin, Jongkind and even the Impressionists, thanks to its freedom of touch and its way of capturing atmospheric light.

Richard Parkes Bonington's imprint on his period 

Richard Parkes Bonington left his mark on 19th-century art through the dazzling success of his works despite the brevity of his career. He influenced many painters after him, notably Eugène Isabey, official painter of the French navy.

Today, his works are still highly appreciated on the auction market. Although some of his work is exhibited in London, private collectors play an important role in preserving his work.

Recognizing the artist's signature

Not all Richard Parkes Bonington's works are signed. They may be at the bottom of the painting, but if you think you own one, it's best to have it appraised to be sure of its originality.

Knowing the value of a work

If you happen to own a work by Bonington or after the artist, don't hesitate to request a free valuation using our form on our website.

A member of our team of experts and certified auctioneers will contact you promptly to provide you with an estimate of the market value of your work, as well as any relevant information about it.

If you wish to sell your work, you will also be accompanied by our specialists in order to benefit from alternatives for selling it at the best possible price, taking into account market inclinations.