Frederick Walker (
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a major s ...
, 26 May 1840 – 4 June 1875
St Fillans
St Fillans is a village in Perthshire in the central highlands of Scotland, in the council area of Perth and Kinross. The village lies at the eastern end of Loch Earn, west of Comrie on the A85 road, at the point where the River Earn leaves t ...
) was a British
social realist
Social realism is the term used for work produced by painters, printmakers, photographers, writers and filmmakers that aims to draw attention to the real socio-political conditions of the working class as a means to critique the power structure ...
painter and illustrator. He was described by Sir
John Everett Millais
Sir John Everett Millais, 1st Baronet, ( , ; 8 June 1829 – 13 August 1896) was an English painter and illustrator who was one of the founders of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. He was a child prodigy who, aged eleven, became the youngest s ...
as "the greatest artist of the century".
Life and work
Early life and training
Walker was born at 90
Great Titchfield Street
Great Titchfield Street is a street in the West End of London. It runs north from Oxford Street to Greenwell Street, just short of the busy A501 Marylebone Road and Euston Road. It lies within the informally designated London area of Fitzrovi ...
,
Marylebone
Marylebone (usually , also , ) is a district in the West End of London, in the City of Westminster. Oxford Street, Europe's busiest shopping street, forms its southern boundary.
An ancient parish and latterly a metropolitan borough, it mer ...
in London as one of eight children: the elder of twins and fifth son of William Henry,
jeweller
A bench jeweler is an artisan who uses a combination of skills to make and repair jewelry. Some of the more common skills that a bench jeweler might employ include antique restoration, silversmith, Goldsmith, stone setting, engraving, fabrica ...
, and Ann (née Powell) Walker. His grandfather, William Walker, had been an artist, who exhibited regularly at the
Royal Academy
The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly in London. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its purpo ...
and
British Institution
The British Institution (in full, the British Institution for Promoting the Fine Arts in the United Kingdom; founded 1805, disbanded 1867) was a private 19th-century society in London formed to exhibit the works of living and dead artists; it w ...
in 1782–1802. Fredrick's mother was an embroiderer and became the family's main breadwinner when his father died in 1847.
Walker received his education at a local school and later at the
North London Collegiate School
North London Collegiate School (NLCS) is an independent school with a day school for girls in England. Founded in Camden Town, it is now located in Edgware, in the London Borough of Harrow. Associate schools are located in South Korea, Jeju I ...
in Camden. He showed a talent for art from an early age, teaching himself to copy prints using
pen and ink
A pen is a common writing instrument that applies ink to a surface, usually paper, for writing or drawing. Early pens such as reed pens, quill pens, dip pens and ruling pens held a small amount of ink on a nib or in a small void or cavity wh ...
. He also practised drawing in the
British Museum
The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It documen ...
. In 1855–1857, he worked in an architect's office in
Gower Street, but he gave this up to become a student at the
British Museum
The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It documen ...
and at
James Mathews Leigh
James Mathews Leigh (1808 – 20 April 1860) was an English art educator, painter, writer, dramatist and critic. He is best known as the founder of a popular private art school in London known as "Leigh's Academy", which eventually became t ...
's
art school
An art school is an educational institution with a primary focus on the visual arts, including fine art – especially illustration, painting, photography, sculpture, and graphic design. Art schools can offer elementary, secondary, post-second ...
.
In March 1858 he was admitted as a student to the
Royal Academy
The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly in London. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its purpo ...
, and later that year became also a part-time apprentice
wood-engraver to
Josiah Wood Whymper in
Lambeth
Lambeth () is a district in South London, England, in the London Borough of Lambeth, historically in the County of Surrey. It is situated south of Charing Cross. The population of the London Borough of Lambeth was 303,086 in 2011. The area expe ...
, soon abandoning his Academy classes. During the two years of his apprenticeship he met fellow artists J. W. North and
George Pinwell, and he continued to paint in his spare time, in oils and watercolours.
As illustrator
In 1859 Walker joined the Artists' Society in Langham Chambers, and from 1860 to 1865 achieved great success as a black-and-white illustrator for popular journals of the day such as ''
Cornhill Magazine
''The Cornhill Magazine'' (1860–1975) was a monthly Victorian magazine and literary journal named after the street address of the founding publisher Smith, Elder & Co. at 65 Cornhill in London.Laurel Brake and Marysa Demoor, ''Dictionar ...
'', ''
Once a Week'', ''Good Words'', ''Everybody's Journal'', and ''Leisure Hour''. Much of his work in this period was engraved by
Joseph Swain. He was introduced to the satirist and author
William Thackeray
William Makepeace Thackeray (; 18 July 1811 – 24 December 1863) was a British novelist, author and illustrator. He is known for his satirical works, particularly his 1848 novel '' Vanity Fair'', a panoramic portrait of British society, and t ...
, the ''Cornhills editor, for whom he provided drawings, such as "Comfort in grief", for "
The Adventures of Philip", initially published as a serial, then as a book in 1862. He also illustrated Thackeray's unfinished novel "Denis Duval", magazine stories by Thackeray's daughter
Ann Ritchie – many of the drawings later reproduced in watercolour – and provided drawings such as "Summer days" for the
Dalziel brothers
The Brothers Dalziel (pronounced ) was a prolific wood-engraving business in Victorian London, founded in 1839 by George Dalziel.
The Dalziel family
In 1840, George (1 December 1815 – 4 August 1902) was joined in the business by his brother E ...
, which appeared in two poetry books: "A Round of Days"
and "Wayside Posies".
As artist
Walker produced his first important watercolour, "Strange faces" in 1862 at Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, and in the following year "Philip in Church", which won a medal at the
Paris Exhibition of 1867. Walker exhibited at the
Royal Watercolour Society
The Royal Watercolour Society is a British institution of painters working in watercolours. The Society is a centre of excellence for water-based media on paper, which allows for a diverse and interesting range of approaches to the medium of wat ...
from 1864 until the end of his life, becoming an associate member in February 1864 and a full member in 1866, entitling him to add the post-nominal initials RWS to his name. In 1871 he was elected an Associate Royal Academician (ARA), and was elected an honorary member of the Belgian Watercolour Society in the same year.
In 1863 Walker exhibited his first oil painting, ''
The Lost Path'' at the Royal Academy of Arts. Thereafter he showed "Wayfarers" (1866, private collection), "Bathers" (1867,
Lady Lever Art Gallery
The Lady Lever Art Gallery is a museum founded and built by the industrialist and philanthropist William Lever, 1st Viscount Leverhulme and opened in 1922. The Lady Lever Art Gallery is set in the garden village of Port Sunlight, on the Wirral ...
), "Vagrants" (1868,
Tate
Tate is an institution that houses, in a network of four art galleries, the United Kingdom's national collection of British art, and international modern and contemporary art. It is not a government institution, but its main sponsor is the U ...
, London), "The Old Gate" (1869, Tate, London), ''The Plough'' (1870; Tate Britain, London), ''At the Bar'' (1871; Untraced), ''The Harbour of Refuge'' (1872, Tate, London) and ''The Right of Way'' (1875;
National Gallery of Victoria
The National Gallery of Victoria, popularly known as the NGV, is an art museum in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Founded in 1861, it is Australia's oldest and most visited art museum.
The NGV houses an encyclopedic art collection across two ...
, Melbourne).
Final years
Walker never married, spending his life in London with family members: his brother John (died 1868), his sister Fanny (died 1876) and his mother (died 1874). They resided in
Bayswater
Bayswater is an area within the City of Westminster in West London. It is a built-up district with a population density of 17,500 per square kilometre, and is located between Kensington Gardens to the south, Paddington to the north-east, and ...
from 1863. He twice visited
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
in 1863 and 1867, and
Venice
Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 bridges. The isla ...
in 1868 and 1870, in the latter case with a friend,
William Quiller Orchardson
Sir William Quiller Orchardson (27 March 1832 – 13 April 1910) was a noted Scottish portraitist and painter of domestic and historical subjects who was knighted in June 1907, at the age of 75.
Early years
Orchardson was born in Edinburgh, ...
. In 1873 he travelled to
Algiers
Algiers ( ; ar, الجزائر, al-Jazāʾir; ber, Dzayer, script=Latn; french: Alger, ) is the capital and largest city of Algeria. The city's population at the 2008 Census was 2,988,145Census 14 April 2008: Office National des Statistiques d ...
in a failed attempt to recuperate from a bout of
tuberculosis
Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, in w ...
that worsened until his death in June 1875 at
St Fillans
St Fillans is a village in Perthshire in the central highlands of Scotland, in the council area of Perth and Kinross. The village lies at the eastern end of Loch Earn, west of Comrie on the A85 road, at the point where the River Earn leaves t ...
in
Perthshire
Perthshire (locally: ; gd, Siorrachd Pheairt), officially the County of Perth, is a historic county and registration county in central Scotland. Geographically it extends from Strathmore in the east, to the Pass of Drumochter in the north, ...
, Scotland. He was buried at
Cookham
Cookham is a historic Thames-side village and civil parish on the north-eastern edge of Berkshire, England, north-north-east of Maidenhead and opposite the village of Bourne End. Cookham forms the southernmost and most rural part of High Wyco ...
.
Books partly illustrated by Walker
*W. M. Thackeray, ''The Adventures of Philip'' (London: Smith, Elder & Co., 1862)
*George Dalziel, ''A Round of days''
(London: Routledge, 1866)
*R. W. Buchanan, ''Wayside Posies''
(London: Routledge, 1867)
*W. M. Thackeray,''Denis Duval'' (London: Smith, Elder & Co., 1867)
Notes
Further reading
*J. Comyns Carr, ''Essays on Art'' (London: Smith, Elder, & Co, 1879), pp. 198–222
*John George Marks, ''Life and letters of Frederick Walker, A.R.A.'' (London: Macmillan & Co, 1896)
*
Claude Phillips
Sir Claude Phillips (29 January 1846 – 9 August 1924) was a British writer, art historian and critic for ''The Daily Telegraph'', ''Manchester Guardian'' and other publications during the late 19th century. He was the first keeper of the Wal ...
, ''Frederick Walker and his works'' (London: Seeley & Co, 1897)
*Clementina Black, ''Frederick Walker'' (London: Duckworth & Co, 1902)
*Redgrave, Gilbert Richard. ''A history of water-colour painting in England''
(London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 1905)
*Donato Esposito, 'Frederick Walker (1840–1875)', in ''Frederick Walker and the Idyllists'' (London: Lund Humphries, 2017), pp. 35–59
References
*
*
External links
*
*
Fred Walker ARA(Biog at southwilts.com)
Frederic Walker(Art Renewal Center Museum)
(Victorian web)
(artcyclopedia.com)
Walker at the Tate GalleryAutumn(1865 watercolour at the
V & A)
Spring(1865 watercolour at the
V & A)
Profile on Royal Academy of Arts Collections
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Walker, Frederick
1840 births
1875 deaths
19th-century British painters
British male painters
British illustrators
British watercolourists
Social realist artists
Artists' Rifles soldiers
Associates of the Royal Academy
19th-century British male artists