Brief Biography-Samuel Prout was born in Plymouth, c. 1783. He was famed as a watercolourist of buildings. He travelled to Cornwall in 1801, where he painted with John Britton, before moving to Clerkenwell, London and worked as a topographical draughtsman until 1805. His renown came from traversing the continent and painting townscapes and buildings, particularly in Normandy. John Ruskin, favoured his work, and in 1820 he was a member of the Water-Colour Society. Then, in 1829, he became Painter in Water-Colours in Ordinary to King George IV.