John Brett

John Brett (1831-1902) was a British artist known for his landscape and marine paintings. Born in Essex, England, Brett studied at the Royal Academy in London, where he developed a passion for capturing the natural world with meticulous detail. Influenced by the writings of John Ruskin and the painterly techniques of the Pre-Raphaelite movement, Brett deployed vibrant colors and precise brushwork. In 1859, financially supported by John Ruskin, Brett visited and painted Val d’Aosta, Italy. When his painting was not received well by the press and went unsold, Ruskin purchased it. Later in his career, Brett completed a number of landscape oil studies from nature with the “double-square” format of 7 x 14 inches.