Anthony Devis

Anthony Devis (18 March 1729 – 26 April 1816) was an English landscape painter, working especially in watercolor and oils and active in London.

It so happened that this activity of Anthony Devis coincided with an interest of the Empress Catherine the Great of Russia, who constructed a palace as a staging post between St Petersburg and her summer residence at Tsarskoe Selo.

Its decoration was to feature hand-painted views of country houses from the British Isles in landscape settings and bore also a standard green frog device.

The subjects include many of the finest British gardens of the day, ruined castles and abbeys, old manor houses, views over the Thames and numerous curiosities.

In 1780 Anthony Devis retired to Albury House near Guildford, Surrey where he made a collection of paintings and curios.