Linnell Close, is named after: John Linnell (1792-1820)

• Portraitist and landscape artist
• Patron of William Blake
• Lived in Hampstead, including at Wyldes Farm (Collins Farm)
• Painted Hampstead Heath frequently

John Linnell was born in 1792, son of a carver and gilder. He was involved in the arts from an early age, and by age 10 was selling his chalk drawings.  He began to study and the Royal Academy in 1805.  His reputation and fortune came from his portrait paintings, but his passion was for landscapes.  A patron of William Blake, some of Linnell’s early landscapes have a similar visionary quality to Blake’s. Linnell commissioned Blake to illustrate the Divine Comedy and the Book of Job. He and Blake visited Hampstead in 1821; he rented Hope Cottage in North End the following year and Wyldes Farm (then known as Collins Farm) the year after that. He lived there until 1828; while there he painted the Heath frequently. For the four years Linnell lived at Collins Farm it was an artistic centre where artists would meet to discuss ideas and to paint. Mid-century, he moved to Redhill and devoted himself to painting idyllic scenes of Surrey. Despite his success he was never invited to join the Royal Academy, possibly because of his abrasive personality.