Anthony Vandyke Copley Fielding, (1787-1855)
Anthony Vandyke Copley Fielding (22 November 1787 – 3 March 1855), commonly called Copley Fielding, was an English painter born in Sowerby, near Halifax and famous for his watercolour landscapes. At an early age Fielding became a pupil of John Varley. In 1810 he became an associate exhibitor in the Old Water-colour Society, in 1813 a full member and in 1831 President of that body (later known as the Royal Society of Watercolours), until his death. In 1824 he won a gold medal at the Paris Salon alongside Richard Parkes Bonington and John Constable.
Copley Fielding was a painter of much elegance, taste and accomplishment and has always been highly popular with purchasers. He painted a vast number of all sorts of views (occasionally in oil-color) including marine subjects. Specimens of his work from 1829 to 1850 can be seen in the water-colour gallery of the Victoria and Albert Museum and other major museums. Among the engraved specimens of his art is the Annual of British Landscape Scenery, published in 1839.