Farington, Joseph

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Farington, Joseph (1747–1821). English landscape painter and draughtsman, Farington studied at the Royal Academy from its foundation in 1768, becoming an unofficial but influential part of its government. Until 1921, he was best known for two collections of engravings of the English Lakes, but in that year his copious diary was discovered and revealed Farington as an authority on matters artistic, literary, social, and political. A friend to many in Parliament and well informed on politics in France, Farington's work is rich in anecdote about almost every leading politician of his day. In 1793, with assistance from supporters of the war with France, Farington visited the front at Valenciennes and acting as an early war artist, recorded what he saw. Most of the original diary manuscript is in the Royal Collection at Windsor castle and examples of his drawings are in London at the British and Victoria and Albert museums.

June Cochrane

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