This wonderful painting captures a snapshot of bustling Parisian life at the turn of the 19th Century. The scene is more than likely a view from the Quai du Louvre.
Thomas Benjamin Kennington was born in Grimsby, Lincolnshire, England on 7 April 1856 and studied at Liverpool School of Art, the South Kensington Schools in London, and at the Académie Julian in Paris. He subsequently worked primarily as a genre and portrait painter. Kennington was a frequent exhibitor at the Royal Academy in London from 1880 to 1916. He also exhibited at the Grosvenor Gallery, Goupil Gallery, New English Art Club, New Gallery, Royal Society of Portrait Painters, Suffolk Street Gallery, Royal Society of British Artists Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours and Royal Institute of Oil Painters in London; the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool; Royal Hibernian Academy in Dublin; Manchester City Art Gallery; Royal Scottish Academy in Edinburgh; Royal Birmingham Society of Artists; and at the Royal Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts.
Kennington was a founder member of the New English Art Club (NEAC) in 1886 and its Hon. Secretary from 1886 to 1888. He was also elected a member of the Royal Society of British Artists (RBA) in 1888 and of the Royal Institute of Oil Painters (ROI) in 1889. He was Vice President of the ROI in 1908 and President of the ROI in 1891. His son was the painter, sculptor and illustrator Eric Henri Kennington (1888-1960).
Text source: Art History Research net (AHR net)