Alfred Rankley (1819–7 December 1872) was a British painter.

Life

Rankley received his art training in the

Royal Academy Schools 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 ...

, and began to exhibit there in 1841, when he sent a scene from Shakespeare's ''

Macbeth ''The Tragedy of Macbeth'', often shortened to ''Macbeth'' (), is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, estimated to have been first performed in 1606. It dramatises the physically violent and damaging psychological effects of political ambiti ...

''. This was followed in 1842 by '' Palamon and Lavinia'', exhibited at the Society of British Artists. In 1843 he sent to the Royal Academy a portrait, in 1844 a scene from ''

Othello ''The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice'', often shortened to ''Othello'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare around 1603. Set in Venice and Cyprus, the play depicts the Moorish military commander Othello as he is manipulat ...

'', and in 1845 a subject from Crabbe's poems. Another portrait and ''

Paul and Virginia ''Paul et Virginie'' (; sometimes known in English as ''Paul and Virginia'') is a novel by Jacques-Henri Bernardin de Saint-Pierre, first published in 1788. The novel's title characters are friends since birth who fall in love. The story is se ...

'' were his contributions to the exhibition of 1846, in which year he sent to the Society of British Artists ''Edith and the Monks finding the Body of Harold'', and ''The Fortune-Teller''. Rankley died at his residence, Clifton Villa,

Campden Hill Campden Hill is a hill in Kensington, West London, bounded by Holland Park Avenue on the north, Kensington High Street on the south, Kensington Palace Gardens on the east and Abbotsbury Road on the west. The name derives from the former ''Camp ...

Kensington Kensington is an area of London in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, around west of Central London. The district's commercial heart is Kensington High Street, running on an east–west axis. The north-east is taken up by Kensingt ...

, on 7 December 1872, aged 52, and was buried in the St. Marylebone Cemetery in

East Finchley East Finchley is an area in North London, immediately north of Hampstead Heath. Like neighbouring Muswell Hill, it straddles the London Boroughs of London Borough of Barnet, Barnet and London Borough of Haringey, Haringey, with most of East F ...

Works

From 1847 until 1867 Rankley was a regular exhibitor at the Royal Academy, always sending a picture, but never more than two. His exhibited works included ''The Ruined Spendthrift'' (1848), ''Love in Humble Life'' and ''Innocence and Guilt'' (1849), ''The Sunday School'' (1850), ''The Pharisee and Publican'' (1851), ''Dr. Watts visiting some of his Little Friends'' (1853), ''The Village School'' (1856), ''The Welcome Guest'' and ''The Lonely Hearth'' (1857), ''The Return of the Prodigal'' (1858), ''The Farewell Sermon'' (1859) (engraved by

William Henry Simmons William Henry Simmons (11 June 1811 – 10 June 1882 London) was a British printmaker. Life Simmons became a pupil of William Finden, the line engraver, but eventually he almost entirely abandoned that style of the art for mezzotinto, in w ...

), ''The Day is done'' (1860), ''The Gipsy at the Gate'' (1862), ''A Sower went forth to sow'' (1863), ''The Doctor's coming'' (1864), (considered to be his best work, representing a scene in a gipsy encampment, ''After Work'' (1865), ''Tis Home where the Heart is'' (1866), ''Follow my Leader'' (1867), ''Following the Trail'' and ''The Hearth of his Home'' (1870), and ''The Benediction'' (1871). ''The Parish Beauty'' and ''The Pastor's Pet'' were engraved by Robert Mitchell; ''Reading the Litany'', ''Sunday Afternoon'', and ''The Sunday School'', by

James Scott James Scott may refer to: Entertainment * James Scott (composer) (1885–1938), African-American ragtime composer * James Scott (director) (born 1941), British filmmaker * James Scott (actor) (born 1979), British television actor * James Scott (Sh ...

; ''Refreshment, Sir?'' by W. H. Egleton; and ''The Scoffers'', by Henry Thomas Ryall.

Notes

;Attribution

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rankley, Alfred 19th-century English painters English male painters 1819 births 1872 deaths Place of birth missing Alumni of the Royal Academy Schools Burials at East Finchley Cemetery 19th-century English male artists