Luke Clennell

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Self-portrait (1810)

Luke Clennell (born April 8, 1781 in Ulgham near Morpeth , † February 2, 1840 in Newcastle-upon-Tyne ) was an English wood cutter and painter. He was considered by his contemporaries to be the most talented of Thomas Bewick's students. Among his best-known works are the illustrations for the poem The Shipwreck by William Falconer . For his engraving of a certificate for the Highland Society of London based on a design by Benjamin West , he received the gold medal of the Society of Arts in London. In April 1817 he developed mental illness and was admitted to the Newcastle insane asylum. His condition did not change until his death 22 years later.

life and work

Car in a thunderstorm (1815)
The Frost Fair in Winter (1814)

Clennell was the son of a farmer from Ulgham, about 10 km north of Morpeth in Northumberland . After breaking off an apprenticeship with a spice grocer, he was apprenticed to a tanner. His talent for drawing is said to have revealed itself here:

“Unfortunately for him, his talent was revealed early on. The manager discovered a caricature behind the door that presented himself. Little uncalled Cruikshank was kicked out of the house with a beating. Now his parents sent him to a wood cutting artist, where his talent quickly developed. "

- From the obituary in the Bohemia

In 1797 he began his seven-year apprenticeship at Bewick. After seven years of apprenticeship, Clennell went to London in 1804, where he married the daughter of the engraver Charles Warren, where he further expanded his fame. A number of book illustrations were created during this time. The vignettes for the poems by Samuel Rogers , which appeared in 1810, are an example .

In the course of the London years he also turned to other artistic techniques, including drawing and watercolor painting. Here his picture with a depiction of a decisive attack on the Battle of Waterloo (title: The Decisive Charge of the Life Guards at Waterloo in 1815 ), which was later engraved by William Bromley, won a prize of 150 guineas for the best sketch of the 1805 founded British Institution for Promoting the Fine Arts .

This award earned him the commission for a large painting that the Earl of Bridgewater ordered from Clennell. The tableau was supposed to represent the participants of a banquet in honor of the present Allied monarchs (the King of Prussia , the Russian Tsar and the English Prince Regent ), which had taken place on June 18, 1814 in the London Guildhall ( Banquet given by the Corporation of London to the Prince Regent, the Emperor of Russia and the King of Prussia, 18th June 1814 ). The preparatory work for the painting - in particular obtaining the necessary individual portraits of the participants in the banquet - was almost complete when Clennell's illness broke out in the spring of 1817. Occasionally a connection is suspected: “ It is thought that owing for the worry and the anxiety caused in collecting the portraits for the work, he lost his reason. ”( Gilbert Richard Redgrave , German:“ It is assumed that it was due to the worries and fears when getting the portraits for his work that he lost his mind. ”)

When his condition did not improve, Clennell was admitted to the insane asylum of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, where he spent several years. He continued to do artistic work, creating wood engravings, painting, drawing, composing and poetry. "His poems were wild, strange, incoherent but of melodious rivers and not without gloomy beauty." ( Obituary in the Bohemia )

He spent the last few years with friends in Newcastle, where he died at the age of 59.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Hans Heinrich Diederich: Keyser's large artist lexicon . Keysersche publishing house. Munich 1963. p. 77
  2. ↑ a b Obituary for Clennell in Bohemia magazine . He appeared in the Bohemia. An entertainment sheet. Prague near Haase. No. 33 (March 17th) 1840, under the heading: Mosaic
  3. ↑ Arthur Rümann: The illustrated book of the XIX. Century in England, France and Germany, 1790-1860 . Insel-Verlag. Frankfurt / Main 1930. p. 58
  4. ↑ Friedrich Müller: The artists of all times and peoples or the lives and works of the most famous builders, sculptors, painters, copper engravers, form cutters, lithographers, etc. from the earliest art epochs to the present day . Edit according to the best sources. from Ms. Müller. Part 1 (A - E). Ebner & Seubert. Stuttgart 1857. p. 341
  5. ^ A b Gilbert Richard Redgrave: A History of Water-Color Painting in England . London 1892. p. 155
personal data
SURNAME Clennell, Luke
BRIEF DESCRIPTION English wood cutter and painter
DATE OF BIRTH April 8, 1781
PLACE OF BIRTH Ulgham at Morpeth (Northumberland)
DATE OF DEATH February 2, 1840
Place of death Newcastle-upon-Tyne , Northumberland