David Bates

( -1904)

This well know landscape painter lived for the majority of his life in Worcester in a house called “Cherry Orchard”.  His exact date of birth is not known and of his life little is recorded.  It is known though, that he was a much travelled and highly successful painter.  He exhibited in the Royal Academy from 1872 to his death in 1904.  He also exhibited in Suffolk Street and the Grosvenor Gallery, the latter founded in Bond Street by Sir Coutts and Lady Lindsay.  He also exhibited a number of watercolours at the New Watercolour Society.

David Bates’ work is characterised by his obvious love of nature.  He painted fine and expressive landscapes, rural life and some fine studies of flowers and birds.  He painted the seasons with keen observation and travelled extensively throughout the British Isles.  His subjects ranged from Wharfdale in Yorkshire to Glenfallock in Scotland, and Carnedd Dafydd in Wales.

It is also interesting that in 1883 he exhibited in the Royal Academy a picture entitled ‘In the garden of Holly Mount, the residence of Her Majesty the Queen’.  One might also suppose that his success brought a Royal Commission.  He is held in high esteem today, the Museum of Liverpool being one of the many public and private collections in which David Bates’ work is still prized.