Three daughters of King Lear by Gustav Pope

Gustav Pope (1831–1910) was a British Victorian painter of Austrian origin. He used several styles in his work, but in his mature style he showed influences of the second wave of the

Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood (PRB), later known as the Pre-Raphaelites, was a group of English painters, poets, and art critics, founded in 1848 by William Holman Hunt, John Everett Millais, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, William Michael Rossett ...

. His work shows the influence of Thomas Seddon,

Dante Gabriel Rossetti Gabriel Charles Dante Rossetti (12 May 1828 – 9 April 1882), generally known as Dante Gabriel Rossetti ( ; ), was an English poet, illustrator, painter, translator, and member of the Rossetti family. He founded the Pre-Raphaelite Brother ...

and Frederic, Lord Leighton. English literary sources, classical mythology, portraiture and idealized images of young women are the most typical subjects in his paintings. Whilst exhibiting at the Royal Academy of Arts in Burlington House, his artworks enjoyed the illustrious company of the paintings of contemporary peer artists including Frank Dicksee, Millais and Alma Tadema.

Life and career

Little is known about Pope's training as a painter, but he is listed as a regular exhibitor in London from 1852 to 1895, at the

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 ...

, the Royal Society of British Artists and the

Royal Academy The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House in Piccadilly London, England. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its ...

. In the 1870s he was known to reside in Knightsbridge, London at Chatham House, High Road, as detailed on artist submission labels and exhibition catalogues. Some sources shows Gustav Pope as deceased by 1895, based on the last year he was exhibiting at the Royal Academy. Nevertheless, a Cemetery register shows 1910 as the year of his death. In 1910, the painting ''A Rainy Day'' was presented to the Bristol City Museum and Art Gallery. He was a resident of Chelsea, according to the 1901 London Census.

Selected works

* ''The Three Daughters of King Lear'' (1875–76; Museo de Art de Ponce, Puerto Rico) * ''Lillies'' (1874), sold at Auction at

Christie's Christie's is a British auction house founded in 1766 by James Christie (auctioneer), James Christie. Its main premises are on King Street, St James's in London, and it has additional salerooms in New York, Paris, Hong Kong, Milan, Geneva, Shan ...

, London in 2009 * ''The Judgement of Paris (The Apple of the Discord)'' (1889), sold at auction at Christie's, London in 2006. * ''Dante’s Inspiration'', sold at auction at Christie's, London in 2014.Christie's Victorian and British Impressionist Art. Catalogue, 14 November 2013. London South Kensington * ''Accident or Design? work later engraved for The Illustrated London Almanack'' * ''Miss Ida Foster (1878),'' private collection, selected in 1880 for the annual Royal Academy of Arts exhibition.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pope, Gustav British male painters 19th-century British painters 1831 births 1910 deaths Members of the Royal Society of British Artists 19th-century British male artists