ROBERT HILLS (BRITISH 1769-1844)

ROBERT HILLS (BRITISH 1769-1844)

BEFORE TREES
watercolour on paper
41 x 27.5cm (57.5 x 43.5cm framed)

Property from a Private Collection, Ravenscourt Park

Provenance
Robert Tear CBE, London
Bequeathed from the above to the present owner

Robert Tear CBE (1939-2011) was one of the most versatile tenors of his generation. Born in Glamorgan, Wales, he was awarded a choral scholarship to King's College, Cambridge after which he forged an extraordinary operatic career, singing first with ENO and subsequently at Covent Garden, working closely with both Michael Tippett and Benjamin Britten, the latter writing music specifically for his voice. Beside his music career, Tear wrote a series of poems and two memoirs, Tear Here (1990) and Singer Beware (1995). He lived in Hammersmith for years where he built a collection of rare English watercolours including works by Samuel Palmer and William Blake.

offered for sale without reserve