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Sir William Blake Richmond KCB, , PPRBSA (29 November 184211 February 1921) was a British painter, sculptor and a designer of stained glass and mosaic. He is best known for his portrait work and decorative
mosaic A mosaic is a pattern or image made of small regular or irregular pieces of colored stone, glass or ceramic, held in place by plaster/mortar, and covering a surface. Mosaics are often used as floor and wall decoration, and were particularly pop ...
s in
St Paul's Cathedral St Paul's Cathedral is an Anglicanism, Anglican cathedral in London and is the seat of the Bishop of London. The cathedral serves as the mother church of the Diocese of London. It is on Ludgate Hill at the highest point of the City of London ...
in
London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, 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 dow ...
. Richmond was influential in the early stages of the Arts and Crafts Movement in his selection of bold colours and materials for the mosaics in St Paul's Cathedral and in his collaboration with James Powell and Sons, glass makers, in creating new colours and materials. This new material expanded the glassmaker's palette and was favoured by artists of the Arts and Crafts Movement, primarily in the creation of stained-glass windows and decorative art work. Richmond was the
Slade Professor of Fine Art The Slade Professorship of Fine Art is the oldest professorship of art and art history at the universities of Cambridge, Oxford and University College, London. History The chairs were founded concurrently in 1869 by a bequest from the art collect ...
at the
University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...
from 1878 to 1883, succeeding his friend and mentor
John Ruskin John Ruskin (8 February 1819 20 January 1900) was an English writer, philosopher, art critic and polymath of the Victorian era. He wrote on subjects as varied as geology, architecture, myth, ornithology, literature, education, botany and pol ...
.


Early life and education

William Blake Richmond was born on 29 November 1842 in
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 ...
. His father, George Richmond , was an important portrait painter; his mother was Julia Tatham (1811–1881). He was named after a close friend of his father, the poet
William Blake William Blake (28 November 1757 – 12 August 1827) was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognised during his life, Blake is now considered a seminal figure in the history of the Romantic poetry, poetry and visual art of t ...
. Richmond was tutored at home due to health problems as a child. In 1858, at the age of 14, Richmond enrolled at the
Royal Academy of Art 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 ...
where he studied drawing and painting for three years. He also spent time at John Ruskin's house, where he was given private art lessons by the prominent artist. In 1859, Richmond painted his first picture, ''Enid and Geraint''. He sold the painting for £20, spending the money to tour Italy for six weeks with a tutor. His time spent viewing the
Old Master In art history, "Old Master" (or "old master")Old Masters De ...
paintings in Italy had a major impact on Richmond's development as an artist and later career. His favourite Italian painters were
Michelangelo Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (; 6 March 1475 – 18 February 1564), known as Michelangelo (), was an Italian sculptor, painter, architect, and poet of the High Renaissance. Born in the Republic of Florence, his work was ins ...
,
Tintoretto Tintoretto ( , , ; born Jacopo Robusti; late September or early October 1518Bernari and de Vecchi 1970, p. 83.31 May 1594) was an Italian painter identified with the Venetian school. His contemporaries both admired and criticized the speed wit ...
and
Giotto Giotto di Bondone (; – January 8, 1337), known mononymously as Giotto ( , ) and Latinised as Giottus, was an Italian painter and architect from Florence during the Late Middle Ages. He worked during the Gothic/ Proto-Renaissance period. G ...
.


Artistic career


Painting

Richmond became a successful portrait painter at an early age. In 1861, at the age of 19, he exhibited his first major work for the Royal Academy. The painting, a portrait of his two brothers, was highly praised by Ruskin. That year, Richmond continued to work in portraits, and study anatomy at
St Bartholomew's Hospital St Bartholomew's Hospital, commonly known as Barts, is a teaching hospital located in the City of London. It was founded in 1123 and is currently run by Barts Health NHS Trust. History Early history Barts was founded in 1123 by Rahere (die ...
. Richmond's widely regarded portraits led to several commissions, a few of which took him to the north of England for several months. Richmond was elected to the Royal Academy in 1861, where he continued to exhibit his work until 1877. In 1865, Richmond returned to Italy, where he lived in
Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus ( legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...
for four years and studied art. While in Italy, he met the painters
Frederic Leighton Frederic Leighton, 1st Baron Leighton, (3 December 1830 – 25 January 1896), known as Sir Frederic Leighton between 1878 and 1896, was a British painter, draughtsman, and sculptor. His works depicted historical, biblical, and classical subjec ...
and Giovanni Costa, both of whose work he admired. When Richmond returned to England, he exhibited ''A Procession in Honour of Bacchus'' at the Royal Academy in 1869. In 1877, Richmond left the Royal Academy and began exhibiting his paintings with the
Grosvenor Gallery The Grosvenor Gallery was an art gallery in London founded in 1877 by Sir Coutts Lindsay and his wife Blanche. Its first directors were J. Comyns Carr and Charles Hallé. The gallery proved crucial to the Aesthetic Movement because it provide ...
, where he exhibited until 1878. In 1878 Richmond became Slade Professor of Fine Art at
Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
, succeeding Ruskin. During his tenure, Richmond was responsible for twelve lectures a year at the school. A few lectures Richmond gave on his favourite artist Michelangelo led to a conflict with Ruskin, who had little regard for that artist. The disagreement between the two men led Richmond to resign his position after five years, although he and Ruskin were able to continue their long-standing friendship. Richmond travelled often to Italy, Greece, Spain and Egypt in the 1880s. He would spend a few months each year exploring new areas, absorbing the history and mythology of the region, and making numerous drawings and coloured sketches. In 1888, Richmond resumed his relationship with the Royal Academy when he was elected an Associate Member (ARA), and was then further elected a Royal Academician (RA) in 1895. He served as Professor of Painting at the academy from 1895 to 1899 and from 1909 to 1911, and continued to exhibit with the academy until 1916. He was elected Senior RA at the academy in 1920.


Mosaic design

Attaining financial success as a portrait painter led Richmond to explore new areas of interest. He began working on large, allegorical paintings, and developed an interest in the design of stained glass mosaic. In 1882, Richmond gave a lecture on monumental decoration in which he criticised the bland decorations in many British churches. He viewed the churches as "caves of white-washed sepulchres, uncoloured, or if coloured at all, only in parts, patchily, and with little general idea of design." Nine years later, in 1891, Richmond put his theory into practice when he started work on the quire and apse of St Paul's Cathedral. Richmond worked on the interior decorations, as both designer and craftsman involved in the installation of the mosaics, from 1891 to 1904. Influenced by the vibrant colours of Byzantine and early Christian work in Italy, Greece and Egypt, Richmond designed bold, colourful mosaics for the Cathedral quire and apse; over seventy allegorical mosaic panels were installed, along with spandrels and ornamental mosaic ceiling decoration. Richmond's work was a complete renewal of the quire, the decorations painted directly onto the existing architectural ornaments and stained-glass windows. "Richmond chose to abandon the flat surface of mosaicists like Salviati, in favour of a more vibrant treatment, based on the use of jagged, irregular glass, set at angles to the plaster, so that it would catch the light. The new installation was a complete renewal of the quire, the decorations painted directly onto the existing architectural decorations and stained glass windows." When completed, the newly remodeled quire and apse, met with public controversy. Several people criticised the mosaics as not being traditionally British and did not belong in a Cathedral. There was a continual debate throughout the 1890s, "partly reflecting a High-Low church debate between ornament and plainness."


Stained-glass design

Richmond collaborated with Harry James Powell of James Powell and Sons, glassmakers, in developing new colours for the mosaic glass to be installed in St Paul's Cathedral. The new colours and combinations of those colours began to be offered in the standard Powell glass palette from the early 1890s. The expanded glass selection inspired artists in the early stages of the Arts and Crafts Movement. The new, heavier glass, often with light streaks of colour was used by artists in newly commissioned stained-glass windows and decorative work. The influence of the mosaic work done at the cathedral and the invention of new medieval-like colours by Powell, influenced Richmond in the stained-glass windows that he designed for St Mary's, Stretton,
Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation Staffs.) is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. It borders Cheshire to the northwest, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, Warwickshire to the southeast, the West Midlands C ...
. Richmond's five-light east window in the chancel of St Mary's Church,
Stretton, East Staffordshire Stretton is a large village and civil parish in Staffordshire, England. It is situated on the northern outskirts of Burton upon Trent and is effectively a suburb of that town. The name is Old English and means '' Street Town'' and comes it being ...
, completed in 1896, was a successful translation of his previous work into stained glass. His mosaic-influenced work at Stretton is displayed in the surface of the glass, roughly painted to resemble the effects of mosaic. The three-light north and south chancel windows that he designed for St Mary's (1898), were similar in theme to his earlier mosaic work with his choice of heavy leading in the windows and glass that gave off a sparkling appearance. The raw materials he selected for the windows included thick slabs of glass, streaked with light veins of colour. This glass may have been used in his work at the cathedral. Richmond designed three large windows (1904—1910) in the Lady Chapel of
Holy Trinity, Sloane Street The Church of the Holy and Undivided Trinity with Saint Jude, Upper Chelsea, commonly called Holy Trinity Sloane Street or Holy Trinity Sloane Square, is a Church of England parish church in London, England. It was built in 1888–90 at the ...
, London.


Sculpture

Richmond created a number of highly acclaimed sculptures, including a piece titled ''An Athlete'' exhibited at the
Grosvenor Gallery The Grosvenor Gallery was an art gallery in London founded in 1877 by Sir Coutts Lindsay and his wife Blanche. Its first directors were J. Comyns Carr and Charles Hallé. The gallery proved crucial to the Aesthetic Movement because it provide ...
in 1879, a bronze sculpture of a Greek runner donated to his village of
Hammersmith Hammersmith is a district of West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It is the administrative centre of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, and identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London ...
, and an Arts-and-Crafts style monument of
William Gladstone William Ewart Gladstone ( ; 29 December 1809 – 19 May 1898) was a British statesman and Liberal politician. In a career lasting over 60 years, he served for 12 years as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, spread over four non-conse ...
in St Deiniol's Church in
Hawarden Hawarden (; cy, Penarlâg) is a village, community and electoral ward in Flintshire, Wales. It is part of the Deeside conurbation on the Wales-England border and is home to Hawarden Castle. In the 2011 census the ward of the same name ...
,
Flintshire , settlement_type = County , image_skyline = , image_alt = , image_caption = , image_flag = , image_shield = Arms of Flint ...
.


Environmental activism

Richmond was an early advocate for
clean air Air pollution is the contamination of air due to the presence of substances in the atmosphere that are harmful to the health of humans and other living beings, or cause damage to the climate or to materials. There are many different types ...
in London. He founded the Coal Smoke Abatement Society (CSAS) in 1898 and was a member of CSAS for a number of years. He decided to form the organisation after becoming increasingly frustrated with the low light levels in winter caused by coal smoke. Richmond penned a letter to ''
The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' ( ...
'' in 1898 with a request for action, stating that "the darkness was comparable to a total eclipse of the sun". Richmond wrote magazine articles and gave public lectures on the danger of coal smoke. CSAS was the oldest environmental
non-governmental organisation A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from government. They are typically nonprofit entities, and many of them are active in ...
(NGO) in the United Kingdom and became
Environmental Protection UK Environmental Protection UK is a UK environmental non-governmental organisation (NGO) working to improve the quality of the local environment - specialising in the subjects of air quality, noise management and land quality. It was formerly know ...
.


Awards and recognition

* 1888: Elected Associate of the
Royal Academy of Art 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 ...
ARA * 1891: Elected Master of the
Art Workers' Guild The Art Workers' Guild is an organisation established in 1884 by a group of British painters, sculptors, architects, and designers associated with the ideas of William Morris and the Arts and Crafts movement. The guild promoted the 'unity of a ...
* 1895: Elected Royal Academician of the Royal Academy of Art RA * 1897: Awarded
Order of the Bath The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate medieval ceremony for appointing a knight, which involved bathing (as a symbol of purification) a ...


Personal life

Richmond married Charlotte Foster (1841–1865) at Marylebone in 1864. Charlotte died a year later on 31 December 1865. He subsequently married Clara Jane Richards (1846–1915) at
Ryde Ryde is an English seaside town and civil parish on the north-east coast of the Isle of Wight. The built-up area had a population of 23,999 according to the 2011 Census and an estimate of 24,847 in 2019. Its growth as a seaside resort came ...
,
Isle of Wight The Isle of Wight ( ) is a county in the English Channel, off the coast of Hampshire, from which it is separated by the Solent. It is the largest and second-most populous island of England. Referred to as 'The Island' by residents, the Is ...
in 1867. Their first two children were Francis, born in Italy in 1868, and Helen, born in Algiers in 1870. The family returned to England in 1870 and moved to Beavor Lodge, Hammersmith, where their sons
Herbert Herbert may refer to: People Individuals * Herbert (musician), a pseudonym of Matthew Herbert Name * Herbert (given name) * Herbert (surname) Places Antarctica * Herbert Mountains, Coats Land * Herbert Sound, Graham Land Australia * Herbert ...
, Julius,
Ernest Ernest is a given name derived from Germanic word ''ernst'', meaning "serious". Notable people and fictional characters with the name include: People *Archduke Ernest of Austria (1553–1595), son of Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor * Ernest, ...
, John, and Arthur were born between 1871 and 1879. Richmond died at his home, Beavor Lodge, in Hammersmith on 11 February 1921.


Gallery

File:Charlotte_Foster,_the_artist%27s_wife_by_William_Blake_Richmond_(1842-1921).jpg, William Richmond's first wife, Charlotte Foster File:RtRev_Lord_Arthur_Charles_Hervey.jpg, Rev.
Lord Arthur Hervey Lord Arthur Charles Hervey (20 August 1808 – 9 June 1894) was an English bishop who served as Bishop of Bath and Wells from 1869 to 1894. He was usually known by his aristocratic courtesy title, "Lord", rather than the style appropriate to ...
File:Ethel Bertha Harrison (1851-1916), by William Blake Richmond.jpg, Ethel Bertha Harrison File:William Blake Richmond - Hera in the House of Hephaistos, 1902.jpg, Hera in the House of Hephaistos File:Sir William Blake Richmond - Portrait of Mrs Ernest Moon - Google Art Project.jpg, Portrait of Mrs Ernest Moon File:William_Morris_by_Sir_William_Blake_Richmond_retouched_(cropped).jpg,
William Morris William Morris (24 March 1834 – 3 October 1896) was a British textile designer, poet, artist, novelist, architectural conservationist, printer, translator and socialist activist associated with the British Arts and Crafts Movement. He w ...
, leader of the Arts and Crafts Movement File:Eglwys_St_Deiniol%27s_Church_Penarlag_Hawarden_Flintshire_Wales_37.JPG, William and Catherine Gladstone monument,
St Deiniol's Church, Hawarden St Deiniol's Church, Hawarden, is in the village of Hawarden, Flintshire, Wales. It is the parish church of the rectorial benefice of Hawarden in the deanery of Hawarden, the archdeaconry of Wrexham, and the diocese of St Asaph. The church has ...
File:Youth Serving Holy Trinity Church WB Richmond.jpg, ''Youth'', stained-glass window, Holy Trinity, Sloane Street, London File:Charity 2 Holy Trinity Church.jpg, ''Charity'', Holy Trinity, Sloane Street, London File:Anne_clough.jpg,
Anne Clough Anne Jemima Clough (20 January 182027 February 1892) was an early English suffragist and a promoter of higher education for women. She was the first principal of Newnham College. Life Clough was born at Liverpool, Lancashire, the daughter of c ...


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Richmond, William Blake 1842 births 1921 deaths 19th-century English painters 20th-century English painters Artists' Rifles soldiers English male painters Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath Members of London County Council Painters from London Progressive Party (London) politicians Royal Academicians Slade Professors of Fine Art (University of Oxford) Masters of the Art Worker's Guild 20th-century English male artists 19th-century English male artists