The renowned British painter Harold Hitchcock, born in 1914, is a descendant of the artist George Stubbs and was encouraged to paint at an early age by his grandfather and two uncles who were exhibiting artists at the Royal Academy. He painted from a very early age receiving much praise from Dame Laura Knight and was proclaimed a prodigy by the English press. His work is purely imaginative - often depicting, in fine detail, a romantic mythological world of idealised beauty, suffused in light, and reminiscent of the 17th.C painter Claude Lorraine. However his art often has a peculiarly English quality following in the tradition of artists such as William Blake (in his adoption of a personal mythology) and particularly Samuel Palmer in his depiction of a pastoral idyll. His use of light also recalls the paintings of J.M.W. Turner. Remarkably unaffected by modern trends in art he follows his own unique inner vision working in a spontaneous way with great technical skill. Later works have additionally included a more figurative and semi-abstract style but without sacrificing the prismatic jewel-like quality of light and color seen in the landscapes.