William Traies was a meritorious English landscape painter, well-admired for his numerous renderings of Devonshire idyls.

Dubbed "The Claude Lorraine of Devonshire”, Traies’s story is one of connection and kinship rather than academic regimen. He was born in the sleepy historic town of Crediton, near Exeter, and commenced his working life at the local post office. Here, although naturally respectful of his duties as a clerk, he utilised every moment of free time to sketch among nature. 

As a boy, he often adventured with his friend John Gendall, as both were budding artists, with ample inspiration on their doorstep. Devon is blessed with rolling uplands, craggy riverbanks, whispering brooks, and dense woodlands. Like his contemporary, John Constable (1776-1837), Traies was taught by the transient whims of nature herself.

His innate fascination for the environment led to early patronage in the form of Dr. Neal, a Scotch physician, for whom he produced a number of illustrations. Much to the young man’s surprise, Neal paid him handsomely for the work.

Evidently well-connected, he garnered further support via the Reverend Gayer Patch, rector of Trinity, who introduced him to the Reverend Palk Carrington, rector of Bridford. In Carrington, he discovered a genial spirit, and the two would undertake numerous sojourns. He lived at Bridford for a while, exploring its crisp woods and surrounding vistas.

Following the appeals of close associates, Traies sent a few examples to the Royal Academy in London and debuted in 1817. Given this scenario, many of his peers would’ve opted to move to the capital, thus furthering their opportunities. However, with such a decorous array of nature’s opulence on his doorstep, rarely did he venture beyond the southwest. Over the course of his seventy-year career, just four works were shown at the Academy.

In a piece catalogued as ‘Animated River Landscape with Sailboats and Sheep’, the use of a formidable tree in the foreground, juxtaposed with a delicate misty horizon, reminds us of both Claude Lorrain (c.1600-1682) and the 17th-century Dutch Italianates. The playful light, which dances upon the late-summer foliage, is handled deftly.

Traies spent his autumn years in Exeter where, following several family bereavements, including the loss of his three sons, he lived with his two grandchildren, Frank and William.

An obituarist at the Western Times described him as a “highly sensitive, gentle, and affectionate” man, “with a cultivated intelligence and a fine appreciation of his art”, “a most charming companion.”

He’s represented in several public collections, including at the V&A and the Royal Albert Memorial Museum.

Exhibited

Royal Academy.

Public Collections

V&A Museum, Royal Albert Memorial Museum & Art Gallery, The Box in Plymouth, Watford Museum.

Timeline

1789

Born in Crediton to William Traies and Mary Traies.

Worked as a postal clerk.

1817

Debuted at the Royal Academy. 

1851

Lived in Exeter, Devon, with his son, Henry, sister-in-law, Frances A Dortuman, and a servant, Louisa. Occupation recorded as ‘Artist. Landscaper’.

1861

Lived in Exeter, Devon, with his two grandchildren, Frank and William, and a servant, Maria. Occupation recorded as ‘Artist. Landscape Painter’.

1872

Died in Exeter.

Reviews

The Western Times (1873)

“Mr. J. Edwards, carver and gilder, Holloway Street, two paintings by two of our local artists - one not long deceased, the other still in the flesh - that every day attract the attention and compel the admiration alike of the cultured and uncultured in matters of art. The smaller of the two is a chef d'œuvre of the late much-regretted William Traies, an undemonstrative disciple of Apelles of rare merit, and who has, with just discrimination, been called the ‘Claude of Devon.’ The subject of the picture now on view is a beautiful landscape scene, which spreads before the sight from a considerable elevation somewhere above the village of Exwick, embracing within it the western face of the Ever Faithful, sweeping down from the Cathedral to the valley of the Exe, by the course of which the eye is carried on and on to the extreme distance which you know to be, if you cannot make it clearly out-Exmouth and the sea. All nature is tranquil, it is an autumn evening, a serene sky; no ruddy glow, but a soft light silvers some fleecy clouds overhead, and Sheds beauty and deep softness o'er the whole, Breathes to the heart, and gently o'er it throws A loving languour which is not repose.

The trees, woods, and general vegetation seem tenderly touched with the beauty of decay, the sentiment it begets heightened by the perfect painting of the trunk and broken branches of the dead ash at the left of a clump of trees, below which loiter a peasant and a couple of village dames. The Norman towers of St. Peter's stand out above the old city, natural as life, as though placed there by the hand of some master of effect to crown the scene and make it the ‘perfection of beauty.’ Those who have seen in the National Gallery the works of Claude Lorrain, the old master from the Vosges mountains, will, on looking at this picture of Traies, feel at once the force of the comparison, in fact must have made it if, no other eye had discerned it before. Like him - the unapproached and unapproachable Claude - he bathes all the creations of his fancy in his own pure light.”

Obituaries

The Art Journal

"The local papers announce the death on the 28th of April, at Exeter, of this landscape painter, in the eighty-third year of his age. Mr. Traies was a native of Crediton, Devonshire, and acquired in his own county the complimentary title of the 'Claud of Devon.' He never could be persuaded to send his works to London for exhibition and therefore we can say nothing of them from our own personal observation, but we hear they are much coveted by amateurs in the West of England and have found their way into some of the best collections there. He was one of the many men of mark whom Devonshire has given to the Arts - what a long list we might present of its worthies, not only of the past, but of the present."

The Western Times

"The Claude Lorraine of Devon. One of Devon's worthiest and most gifted sons is dead. The late Mr. Traies, the eminent painter, died at his residence, Parker's Well Cottage, Topsham-road, on Sunday, in the eighty-third year of his age. It is not for us to lift the curtain of the dying chamber of this glorious old painter. It is enough to know that the last hours of the artist were tendered and his pillow smoothed by the widow of his eldest son. 

Mr. Traies was born at Crediton in 1789. One of his first successful efforts in art was illustrating work in natural history by Dr. Neal, a Scotch physician. The illustrations were so satisfactory to the author and publisher of the book that the artist was to his surprise liberally paid for his work. The artistic talent of Traies was early recognised and encouraged by the Rev. Gayer Patch, rector of Trinity, in this city, a worthy son of the distinguished surgeon of that name, whose high character is remembered in connection with the Devon and Exeter Hospital. Mr. Patch introduced Mr. Traies to the Rev. Palk Carrington, rector of Bridford. In him the artist found a genial and kindred spirit. In the autumns of a bygone time for many years the Bridford Rectory was the abode of our artist. The lovely and exquisitely beautiful scenery in and around Bridford inspired the genius of Traies. The rector and artist strolled together and traversed the surrounding neighbourhoods sketching scenes in Bridford Wood-among others one which the artist has made famous, 'A Gipsy Encampment.'

Stretching beyond this, scenes were taken by the pencil to be more enduringly fixed on canvas, from the Teign and the Dart, 'Holne Chase ' in particular. In passing we may mention that Captain Parker, of Whiteway, father of the late member for South Devon, Montague Edmund Newman Parker, was a warm friend and patron of Traies, and for a long time his studio and residence were at Whiteway, where the charming scenes of this locality were depicted by his pencil. We are told that there is a room at Whiteway especially devoted to Traies's paintings, designated 'The Traies Room.' Here, there are some exquisite examples of the painter's art. The excellence of Traies consisted in placing upon canvas the scenery of his native county in its most charming aspect. He was pre-eminently the great master of sunshine, space, and atmosphere. The poet Frank Curzon has thus described his skill and power:-

Hill, glade, and river, every path we take, 
Thy glorious pictures all the holier make; 
The very sun-shine that lights up the West, 
In thy loved pictures hath a light more blest.

The same poet, who is also an artist, in his admiration of the painter, again says-

Well could I follow where thy hand could roam, 
The arrowy Dart glancing 'neath green arcades, 
The silvery Exe shining through glens and glades, 
The sparkling Teign brawling over bed of rock, 
The wild wan Moor, grey with Tradition's shades, 
The steeps and meadows gay with herd and flock, 
The green lanes ever opening on some scene 
Of hamlet fringed with orchard and with stream, 
With melting distance and those vales between 
That in thy landscapes with such beauty gleam.

Scenes so aptly described are true interpretations of the painter's skill. The late Mr. Robert Saunders, of Exeter, was one of the artist's most enthusiastic patrons; in fact, Traies could never finish his paintings fast enough to satisfy Mr. Saunders - he was 'proud of the artist and reverenced the man.' 

After Mr. Saunders' death the paintings were sold, many of them realizing high prices. One, a scene of 'Becky Falls,' is a painting of superior excellence, now in the possession of a gentleman residing near Exeter. The late Mr. Kendall, a man of cultivated taste, and who built the Swiss cottages at Pennsylvania, was an earnest admirer of Traies' genius, and was a frequent visitor at his studio. A warm friend of Traies and a great supporter of art, Mr. William Miles, had often endeavoured to induce Traies to send his paintings to London for exhibition, and had he done so he would have realized a much larger income and attained a more wide-spread fame. One of his paintings descriptive of Devonshire scenery has found its way into the Kensington Museum and is much admired. We hope to see some of his excellent pictures in our Albert Memorial Museum. 

There are some fine examples of Traies's paintings in many private houses in the city, perhaps one of the best collections of this artist's productions is in the possession of Mr. Bishop, of Bedford Circus; among others he has a charming 'View of Exeter' from Cleeve-hill, and an excellent painting of 'Okehampton Castle.' The owner of this valuable collection of paintings ever highly appreciated the works of 'The Claude of Devon,' and feels a pleasure in showing them to all lovers of art. 

The venerable artist had three sons, who all died before him. His second son Frank inherited his father's genius, and had he lived he would have excelled as one of our best English cattle painters. The too early death of this promising artist was a source of enduring grief to his worthy sire. The old man's sorrow is now ended - he sleeps peacefully in death. His nature was highly sensitive, gentle, and affectionate; this, united with a cultivated intelligence and a fine appreciation of his art, made him a most charming companion. Now his cheerful voice is silent forever, and the hand which drew his pictures has lost its canning, but those who possess his paintings will value them for their exquisite beauty and truthfulness to nature. He retained his powers of mind and proficiency as an artist to the last. A distinguished classical scholar now at Oxford University, educated at Mount Radford and Crediton Grammar Schools, Traies's grandson, bears his name, 'William Traies,' son of the late Willian Traies, of the firm of Messrs. Wm. Brock and Co. We hope that the grandson will continue in his successful career and become as eminent in his profession as his grandsire was an artist. All honour to the memory of 'The Claude Lorraine of Devon.'”