Sydney Prior Hall

Sydney Prior Hall (born October 18, 1842 in Newmarket , Suffolk , † 1922 ) was a British portrait painter and illustrator . His extensive work mainly includes engravings and lithographs that made him one of the most important newspaper illustrators in Victorian England .

Life

Studied and started as an illustrator

Sydney Prior Hall was born in England on October 18, 1842 , and came from a family of artists. Hall studied at the University of Oxford and graduated with top grades. After graduating, Hall wanted to pursue a career as an artist and found a job with the illustrated weekly newspaper The Graphic , the main competitor of The Illustrated London News . Not least, Hall's work established The Graphic as a major illustrated news magazine. Hall's illustrations of the Franco-Prussian War from 1870 to 1871 were particularly important for Hall's stand as an illustrator and artist and also for the role of The Graphic .

Work for the Prince of Wales

After Hall had long illustrating public events for several years, he was appointed in 1875 to the Special Artist to accompany the Prince of Wales ( Outstanding artist who accompanied the Prince of Wales ). The then Prince of Wales was Albert Eduard von Sachsen-Coburg and Gotha (1841-1910), who later became King Edward VII. Hall traveled with him to the British Empire for seven and a half months . On these trips Hall made numerous paintings with watercolors and drawings that had a caricature-like, slightly humorous character attached. When Hall returned to England, his paintings were exhibited in the South Kensington Museum along with the Prince's souvenirs from India . His education at Oxford made it easier for Hall to forge links with the nobility while traveling with the Prince of Wales. In 1879 he accompanied the Marquis of Lome to Canada . The pictures of this trip were later published in The Graphic . Many of Hall's pictures were also published in book form.

Parnell Commission and Jameson Raid Questioning

In the 1880s and 1890s Hall worked as an illustrator of parliamentary court cases. His pictures for the Parnell Commission are considered his best work. With them he benefited from his ability to observe and to recognize the meaning of only the appearance of unimportant moments and to capture them. Hall was also present as an illustrator when the Jameson Raid was questioned.

Late years and death

Sydney Prior Hall made a name for himself not only as an illustrator of travel and legal proceedings, but also as a painter, although his paintings, some of which were also published in The Graphic , had the illustrative character of his other works as well. Hall died in 1922 at the age of 80.

family

Sydney Prior Hall was the son of the horse painter Harry Hall (1814-1882) and the father of the Egyptologist Henry Reginald Holland Hall (1873-1930). Sydney Prior Hall's wife was named Hannah Holland.

Three Princesses (1883)

plant

Most of Sydney Prior Hall's works were illustrations made as prints in the form of lithographs or engravings. The range of motifs is very large and ranges from historical events such as the Franco-German War to everyday scenes - such as a family that plays blind cows at Christmas. In addition to the black and white lithographs, Hall occasionally also made color lithographs and even paintings with oil or water color on canvas, which, however, also have an illustrative character. What Hall's works also have in common is the slightly caricaturing character with which he usually exaggerates the representations a bit in order to give them more dynamism.

reception

Art critic Lewis Lusk wrote in The Art Journal in 1905 :

" The rendering of character in action necessitates a sense of humor, and in Mr. Hall's sketches appear frequent gleams of that faculty. "

“ Portraying characters in action requires a sense of humor, and glimmers of that skill regularly appear in Mr Hall's drawings. "

Next explained Lusk, Hall could " drought reduce an important subject " ( " diminishing the dryness of an important subject ").

Lusk also praised the work on the Parnell Commission:

" On each occasion he was in court the whole time, busy with a swift revealing pencil which missed no turn of affairs. "

“ On every occasion he was in the courtroom the entire time, busy with a nimble revealing pen that never missed a change in the situation. "

Web links

Commons : Sydney Prior Hall  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Sydney Prior Hall on the pages of the Royal Collection Trust
• Sydney Prior Hall on the sides of the Norman Rockwell Museum