HERRING, English family of painters of Dutch descent

John Frederick Herring Sr. was the most prolific and financially successful member of the family. His brother, Benjamin Herring Sr. (1806-1830), had a brief career largely devoted to producing passable imitations of the work of several early 19th-century sporting painters. Having eloped with Anne Harris to Doncaster at the age of 18, John Frederick Sr. began a seven-year career as a coach driver on regular routes to London and then Halifax, meanwhile practicing as a painter in his spare time. Work with horses and constant travel through the countryside may have stimulated his interest in animal and rural subject-matter.

John Frederick Sr. had three painter sons, John Frederick Jr. (c. 1820-1907), Charles (1828-1856), and Benjamin Jr. (1830-1871).




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