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Peter De Wint was an English landscape painter. His father was an English physician of Dutch extraction who had come to England from New York. De Wint was born at Hanley, Staffordshire and moved to London in 1802 where he was apprenticed to John Raphael Smith, the mezzotint engraver and portrait painter. He bought his freedom from Smith in 1806, on condition that he supply eighteen oil paintings over the next two years.
In 1806, he visited Lincoln for the first time with the painter of historical subjects, William Hilton, R.A., whose sister Harriet he married in 1810. De Wint and Hilton lived together in Broad Street, Golden Square, where John Varley also lived. Varley gave De Wint further lessons and introduced him to Dr. Monro, who ran an informal academy for young artists. De Wint first exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1807 and also at the Gallery of Associated Artists in Watercolours in 1808. In 1809, he entered the Royal Academy schools and was elected an Associate of the Old Watercolour Society in 1810. He was also made a full member the following year. By that time, as an established drawing master, he was spending his summers teaching well-to-do provincial families. In 1812, he became a member of the Society of Painters in Watercolors, where he exhibited largely for many years, as well as at the Academy.
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