# James Clarke Hook artist context and auction value notes

Canonical page: https://appraisily.com/artist/james-clarke-hook/
Profile generated: 2026-05-23T14:07:36.943Z
Quality: high confidence, strong sources

## Artist identity

- Birth date: 1819-11-21
- Death date: 1907-04-14
- Nationality: English, British
- Movements: Victorian-era British painting
- Common media: Oil painting, Etching, Printmaking

## About James Clarke Hook

James Clarke Hook (1819–1907) was an English painter and etcher celebrated for his marine subjects, genre scenes of rural and coastal life, historical tableaux, and landscapes. Born in London and trained in the Victorian academic tradition, Hook developed a distinctive reputation for dramatic seascapes and sympathetic depictions of fisherfolk and agricultural workers along the British coast. He exhibited widely during his career and his work entered major public collections, including the Tate. Hook married fellow artist Rosalie Burton in 1846 and was the father of two painter sons, Allan James Hook and Bryan Hook, extending a family legacy in the visual arts. His grandfather was the prominent Methodist theologian and Bible scholar Dr Adam Clarke.

## Common works and media

Hook is most commonly encountered in appraisal contexts as oil-on-canvas marine paintings, coastal genre scenes featuring fisherfolk, and landscape subjects. Etchings and prints after his paintings circulate widely. Notable recorded titles include The Acre by the Sea, At Kyleakin Isle of Skye, Boats off the French Coast, The Bonxie Shetland, and Boys Collecting Eggs on Cliff Face. His work spans historical narrative scenes alongside the more prevalent coastal and rural genre subjects.

## Market and appraisal context

Hook's oil paintings of marine and coastal genre subjects appear most frequently at auction and generally attract the strongest collector interest. Etchings and prints by Hook are more accessible but command lower prices. Provenance linking a work to exhibition history at institutions such as the Tate can enhance value. Attribution care is advised: his sons Allan James Hook and Bryan Hook were active painters in related genres, and unsigned or poorly documented works may be misattributed within the family. Condition, composition complexity, and period all affect appraisal outcomes. Comparables should reference dated public auction results for similar Victorian British marine or genre paintings.

## Appraisily data basis

Appraisily artist pages combine structured identity research from museum, library-authority, and biographical sources with auction records, auction-house context, sale dates, realized prices, and comparable lots when those records are available. For James Clarke Hook, identity data is grounded in Getty ULAN, VIAF, the RKD Netherlands Institute for Art History, and the Tate collection.

## Sources

- RKD Netherlands Institute for Art History: https://rkd.nl/en/explore/artists/39603
- Tate: https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/james-clarke-hook-275
- VIAF: https://viaf.org/viaf/23288507/
- Getty Vocabulary Program: https://vocab.getty.edu/page/ulan/500029768
- Wikidata: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q6131395
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Clarke_Hook
- Library of Congress: https://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n96116942