William Frith

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Self-Portrait (1884)
A Private View at the Royal Academy (1881)
The Derby Day (1856), oil on canvas, 101.6 × 223.5 cm

William Powell Frith RA (born January 19, 1819 in Aldfield ( Yorkshire ), † November 2, 1909 in London ) was an English painter .

Life

In 1835 William Frith came to London and was a student at the Royal Academy of Arts . He soon developed into one of the most important genre painters . At first he dealt with literary motifs, then subjects from life. In 1838 he joined his colleague Richard Dadd when he founded the painters' association The Clique .

He became a great favorite of the domestic public because of his ability to reproduce the specifically national character of English life in the people and in higher society with the greatest fidelity and a fine sense of humor.

In the lecture his paintings are elegant, the color effect of a not exactly inharmonious, but probably not always true to the truth, a flaw that he shares with many of his compatriots.

In addition to the Royal Academy, Frith was a member of the royal art academies of Brussels , Antwerp , Stockholm and Vienna , the latter membership due to the exhibition of his painting The Derby Day in Vienna.

Works (selection)

photos

Books

  • My autobiography and Reminiscences. Harper, New York 1888. ( archive.org ). Reprint: Kessinger Publ., Whitefish, Mon. 2010, ISBN 978-1-163-43260-0 .
  • Further reminiscences. Bentley Books, London 1888.
  • Neville Wallis (Ed.): A Victorian Canvas. The memoirs of WP Frith. Bles Books, London 1957.

literature

  • Mark Bills, Virginia Knight (Ed.): William Powell Frith. Painting the Victorian Age. Yale University Press, New Haven, Conn. 2006, ISBN 0-300-12190-3 .
  • Christopher Wood: William Powell Frith. A painter and his world. Sutton Publ., Stroud 2006, ISBN 0-7509-3845-5 .

Web links

Commons : William Powell Frith  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ My autobiography and Reminiscences .  - Internet Archive Harper, New York 1888, p. 207.
  2. based on photographic studies of the Epsom Derby by Robert Howlett .
  3. Main character from John Vanbrugh's play Relapse or Virtue Endangered .
  4. ^ Edward VII and Alexandra of Denmark .
  5. a b inspired by the socially critical pictures of William Hogarth .