Henry Hetherington Emmerson (1831 – 1895) – IMS Photography

Sir William George Armstrong, 1st Baron Armstrong of Cragside (1810-1900), in the Inglenook at Cragside

Ian Malpass-Scott — Tue, 21 Apr 2026 16:29:00 +0000

Lord Armstrong is seated on one of the sturdy oak settles in the grand stone inglenook in the Dining Room at Cragside. Reading the newspaper, with his dogs at his feet, and a fire blazing in the background, Armstrong is shown as a man of Victorian domesticity, rather than the industrial magnate he had by then become. In his otherwise faithful depiction of the inglenook, Emmerson takes a permissible artistic liberty in shunting the inscription above the fireplace onto two lines instead of one, so as to squeeze it into the picture.

Oil painting on canvas, Sir William George Armstrong, 1st Baron Armstrong of Cragside (1810-1900), in the Inglenook at Cragside, by Henry Hetherington Emmerson (Chester-le-Street 1831 – Cullercoats 1895), signed bottom left: H H Emmerson, 1880. A full-length portrait of Lord Armstrong as an elderly man, reading a newspaper seated in the Inglenook fireplace in the Dining Room at Cragside (with the motto put onto two lines so as to squeeze it in), with two dogs at his feet.

Provenance: Presumably commissioned by Lord Armstrong (1810-1900); thence by descent; transferred by the Treasury to The National Trust in 1977 via the National Land Fund, aided by 3rd Baron Armstrong of Bamburgh and Cragside (1919-1987).

Marks and inscriptions: Bottom left: H. H. Emmerson On a label suspended from the frame: Sir William Armstrong / 1810–1900 / H. H. Emmerson 1880

Text from the National Trust website

Object description
Type: Easel painting
Location: Cragside, Rothbury, Northumberland
Material: Oil on canvas
Artist: Henry Hetherington Emmerson (1831–1895)
Date: 1880

Image Details
Date: 21 April 2026
Camera body: iPhone Xs
Lens: Wide Camera 26mm ƒ/1.8
Focal Length: 26mm
Aperture: ƒ/1.8
Shutter Speed: 1/4s
ISO: 500
Licensing: Image of a National Trust asset. This image cannot be licensed.

A Winter Landscape

Ian Malpass-Scott — Thu, 19 Sep 2024 16:29:00 +0000

Oil painting on canvas, A Winter Landscape, by Henry Hetherington Emmerson (Chester-le-Street 1831 – Cullercoats 1895), signed and dated, bottom left: H H Emmerson 1875. A shepherd and his wife, mounted on one grey horse, slowly drive a flock of sheep down a snow-covered track through a snowy landscape, assisted by their dog.

Provenance: Presumably acquired by Sir William George Armstrong, 1st Baron Armstrong of Cragside (1810-1900); thence by descent; transferred by the Treasury to The National Trust in 1977 via the National Land Fund, aided by 3rd Baron Armstrong of Bamburgh and Cragside (1919 – 1987).

Text from the National Trust website

Object description
Type: Easel painting
Location: Cragside, Rothbury, Northumberland
Material: Oil on canvas
Artist: Henry Hetherington Emmerson (1831 – 1895)
Date: 1875

Image Details
Date: 19 September 2024
Camera body: iPhone Xs
Lens: Wide Camera 26mm ƒ/1.8
Focal Length: 26mm
Aperture: ƒ/1.8
Shutter Speed: 1/25s
ISO: 400
Licensing: Image of a National Trust asset. This image cannot be licensed.

Two Shorthorn Calves

Ian Malpass-Scott — Thu, 19 Sep 2024 16:29:00 +0000

Oil painting on canvas, Two Shorthorn Calves, by Henry Hetherington Emmerson (Chester-le-Street 1831 – Cullercoats 1895), signed and dated, bottom left: H H Emmerson 1874. Two shorthorn calves in a landscape, turned to the left.

Text from the National Trust website

Object description
Type: Easel painting
Location: Cragside, Rothbury, Northumberland
Material: Oil on canvas
Artist: Henry Hetherington Emmerson (1831 – 1895)
Date: 1874

Image Details
Date: 19 September 2024
Camera body: iPhone Xs
Lens: Wide Camera 26mm ƒ/1.8
Focal Length: 26mm
Aperture: ƒ/1.8
Shutter Speed: 1/25s
ISO: 500
Licensing: Image of a National Trust asset. This image cannot be licensed.

A Farm Girl with Three Calves and ‘Silky’

Ian Malpass-Scott — Thu, 20 Jun 2024 16:29:00 +0000

Oil painting on canvas, A Farm Girl with Three Calves and ‘Silky’, by Henry Hetherington Emmerson (Chester-le-Street 1831 – Cullercoats 1895), signed and dated 1877. A farm girl, holding a basket, standing in a landscape with three calves and Lord Armstrong’s dog Silky, a much-loved pet of the Armstrong family, who features in several paintings at Cragside.

Provenance: Purchased by the National Trust at auction from Anderson and Garland Ltd, Newcastle, in 2008.

Text from the National Trust website

Object description
Type: Easel painting
Location: Cragside, Rothbury, Northumberland
Material: Oil on canvas
Artist: Henry Hetherington Emmerson (1831 – 1895)
Date: 1831

Image Details
Date: 20 June 2024
Camera body: iPhone Xs
Lens: Wide Camera 26mm ƒ/1.8
Focal Length: 26mm
Aperture: ƒ/1.8
Shutter Speed: 1/33s
ISO: 400
Licensing: Image of a National Trust asset. This image cannot be licensed.

‘Orphan of the Storm’

Ian Malpass-Scott — Thu, 20 Jun 2024 16:29:00 +0000

An orphaned lamb turns its head towards us plaintively, left vulnerable to the bleak winter weather. Its little form stands out against the brooding clouds and the body of its deadmother lying amid the snow. This is one of a number of paintings at Cragside painted by Henry Hetherington Emmerson in the 1870s.

Provenance: Presumably acquired by Sir William George Armstrong, 1st Baron Armstrong of Cragside (1810-1900); recorded at Cragside by E. Rimbault Dibdin in ‘Lord Armstrong’s Collection of Modern Pictures. I’, in The Magazine of Art, March 1891; thence by descent; transferred by the Treasury to The National Trust in 1977 via the National Land Fund, aided by 3rd Baron Armstrong of Bamburgh and Cragside (1919 – 1987).

Marks and inscriptions: Bottom left: HHEmmerson 1875 On a label hanging from the frame: ‘ORPHAN OF THE STORM’ / 1875 / H. H. EMMERSON 1831-1895

Text from the National Trust website

Object description
Type: Easel painting
Location: Cragside, Rothbury, Northumberland
Material: Oil on canvas
Artist: Henry Hetherington Emmerson (1831 – 1895)
Date: 1875

Image Details
Date: 20 June 2024
Camera body: iPhone Xs
Lens: Wide Camera 26mm ƒ/1.8
Focal Length: 26mm
Aperture: ƒ/1.8
Shutter Speed: 1/25s
ISO: 500
Licensing: Image of a National Trust asset. This image cannot be licensed.

‘Silky’

Ian Malpass-Scott — Thu, 20 Jun 2024 16:29:00 +0000

Oil painting on canvas, Silky, or ‘Waiting for Orders’, by Henry Hetherington Emmerson (Chester-le-Street 1831 – Cullercoats 1895), signed and dated, bottom left: H H Emmerson 1874. A portrait of a dog, Lord Armstrong’s favourite Border Collie, lying on a stony hillside, its head down in an alert position.

Provenance: Purchased by William George Armstrong, 1st Baron Armstrong of Cragside (1810-1900) from the artist, for 75 guineas, circa 1875 (recorded in the 2nd Lord Armstrong’s inventory of heirlooms of around 1900); thence by descent; transferred by the Treasury to The National Trust in 1977 via the National Land Fund, aided by 3rd Baron Armstrong of Bamburgh and Cragside (1919 – 1987).

Marks and inscriptions: Bottom left: H. H. Emmerson 1874

Text from the National Trust website

Object description
Type: Easel painting
Location: Cragside, Rothbury, Northumberland
Material: Oil on canvas
Artist: Henry Hetherington Emmerson (1831 – 1895)
Date: 1875

Gilnockie Tower in 1530, Dumfriesshire

Ian Malpass-Scott — Thu, 20 Jun 2024 16:29:00 +0000

Lord Armstrong claimed to be related to Johnnie Armstrong of Gilnockie, a notorious 16th-century border reiver (or bandit), whose exploits were immortalised in Sir Walter Scott’s ballad of ‘Johnie Armstrang’. Johnnie was executed with other members of his ‘gallant companie’ on the orders of James V at Hawick in 1530. Emmerson’s painting shows the triumphant reivers returning to Gilnockie Tower in Dumfrieshire after a raid. The Gilnockie Tower at Cragside was designed by Richard Norman Shaw in the early 1870s in imitation of the original building.

Oil painting on canvas, Gilnockie Tower in 1530, Dumfrieshire by Henry Hetherington Emmerson (Chester-le-Street 1831 – Cullercoats 1895), signed and dated, bottom left: H H Emmerson 1880. A painting of Gilnockie Tower, Dumfrieshire, with a party of border raiders on horseback, returning with a drove of cattle being driven through water in the foreground. Johnnie Armstrong of Gilnockie Tower and his retinue of freebooters are returning to Gilnockie with a drove of cattle after a successful Border raid. He and forty-eight of his followers were hanged near Hawick in the same year on the orders of James V of Scotland. The design of Gilnockie Tower at Cragside (Norman Shaw’s tower which terminates the south front) was based on the 1530 Tower, still standing there at the time.

Bottom left: H. H. Emmerson 1880

Text from the National Trust website

Object description
Type: Easel painting
Location: Cragside, Rothbury, Northumberland
Material: Oil on canvas
Artist: Henry Hetherington Emmerson (1831 – 1895)
Date: 1880

Image Details
Date: 20 June 2024
Camera body: iPhone Xs
Lens: Wide Camera 26mm ƒ/1.8
Focal Length: 26mm
Aperture: ƒ/1.8
Shutter Speed: 1/33s
ISO: 320
Licensing: Image of a National Trust asset. This image cannot be licensed.

A Young Girl with Flowers

Ian Malpass-Scott — Thu, 20 Jun 2024 16:29:00 +0000

Oil painting on canvas, A Young Girl with Flowers, by Henry Hetherington Emmerson (Chester-le-Street 1831 – Cullercoats 1895), signed and dated, bottom left H. H. E. 1876. A full-length portrait of a young girl, thought to have been one of the artist’s daughters, holding a vase of flowers. A palette and paint brushes can be seen on a chair at the right, and a painting (Watteauesque) rests on an easel to the left, all of which suggest the setting is to be interpreted as the artist’s studio.

Bottom left: Bottom left: H. H. E. 1876

Text from the National Trust website

Object description
Type: Easel painting
Location: Cragside, Rothbury, Northumberland
Material: Oil on canvas
Artist: Henry Hetherington Emmerson (1831 – 1895)
Date: 1876

Faithful unto Death

Ian Malpass-Scott — Thu, 20 Jun 2024 16:29:00 +0000

Pastel on paper, Faithful unto Death, by Henry Hetherington Emmerson (Chester-le-Street 1831 – Cullercoats 1895), signed and dated, December 1874. A shepherd lying in the snow, with two dogs by his side.

Provenance: Armstrong collection. Transferred by the Treasury to The National Trust in 1977 via the National Land Fund, aided by 3rd Baron Armstrong of Bamburgh and Cragside (1919 – 1987).

Bottom left: signed

Text from the National Trust website

Object description
Type: Easel painting
Location: Cragside, Rothbury, Northumberland
Material: Oil on canvas
Artist: Henry Hetherington Emmerson (1831 – 1895)
Date: 1874

Edith Emmerson, aged 3

Ian Malpass-Scott — Thu, 20 Jun 2024 16:29:00 +0000

Oil painting on canvas, Edith Emmerson, aged 3, by Henry Hetherington Emmerson (Chester-le-Street 1831 – Cullercoats 1895), signed and dated, bottom left: H H Emmerson 1874. A full-length portrait of a young girl with fair hair, the artist’s daughter, standing in an interior in front of a chair, looking out at the viewer. She cradles a kitten in her arms, while a cat sits on the chair behind her and peers over her shoulder, and three other kittens play in a basket at her feet on the left.

Provenance: Purchased by William George Armstrong, 1st Baron Armstrong of Cragside (1810-1900) from the artist, for 100 guineas, circa 1873/4; thence by descent; transferred by the Treasury to The National Trust in 1977 via the National Land Fund, aided by 3rd Baron Armstrong of Bamburgh and Cragside (1919 – 1987)

Marks and inscriptions: Bottom left: H. H. Emmerson / 1874

Text from the National Trust website

Object description
Type: Easel painting
Location: Cragside, Rothbury, Northumberland
Material: Oil on canvas
Artist: Henry Hetherington Emmerson (1831–1895)
Date: 1874

Image Details
Date: 20 June 2024
Camera body: iPhone Xs
Lens: Wide Camera 26mm ƒ/1.8
Focal Length: 26mm
Aperture: ƒ/1.8
Shutter Speed: 1/25s
ISO: 400
Licensing: Image of a National Trust asset. This image cannot be licensed.