Frederick Cayley Robinson (18 August 1862 – 4 January 1927) was an English artist who created paintings and applied art, including book illustrations and theatre set designs. Cayley Robinson continued to paint striking Pre-Raphaelite and Victorian subjects well into the twentieth century despite this approach becoming deeply unfashionable. His series of large-scale mural paintings for the

Middlesex Hospital Middlesex Hospital was a teaching hospital located in the Fitzrovia area of London, England. First opened as the Middlesex Infirmary in 1745 on Windmill Street, it was moved in 1757 to Mortimer Street where it remained until it was finally clos ...

entitled ''Acts of Mercy'' commissioned around 1915 and completed in 1920 are some of his most impressive works, along with ''Pastoral'' (1923;

Tate Britain Tate Britain, known from 1897 to 1932 as the National Gallery of British Art and from 1932 to 2000 as the Tate Gallery, is an art museum on Millbank in the City of Westminster in London, England. It is part of the Tate network of galleries in En ...

, London), which was bought by the

Chantrey Bequest Sir Francis Leggatt Chantrey (7 April 1781 – 25 November 1841) was an English sculptor. He became the leading portrait sculptor in Regency era Britain, producing busts and statues of many notable figures of the time. Chantrey's most notable w ...

for the nation. However his many smaller paintings, particularly of interiors featuring sombre women as well as the theme of departure, are significant works of modern British art.

Biography

Born on 18 August 1862, in Brentford-on-Thames, Middlesex, Frederick Cayley Robinson was the son of Frederic Robinson, an engineer. He was educated at the East Cliff House school run by Dr. Frederick George Head, in

Cliftonville Cliftonville is a coastal area of Margate in the Thanet District, Thanet district of Kent, England. It includes the Palm Bay, UK, Palm Bay estate, built in the 1930s with wide avenues and detached and semi-detached houses with driveways, gar ...

, and in France at the Lycée de Pau. He studied at the St. John's Wood Art School, London, and from 1885 to 1888 at 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 ...

. He was elected a member of the

Royal Society of British Artists The Royal Society of British Artists (RBA) is a British art body established in 1823 as the Society of British Artists, as an alternative to the Royal Academy. History The RBA commenced with twenty-seven members, and took until 1876 to reach fi ...

in 1889. Early on, Cayley Robinson painted scenes of the sea in the fashionable

Newlyn Newlyn () is a seaside town and fishing port in south-west Cornwall, England, United Kingdom.Ordnance Survey: Landranger map sheet 203 ''Land's End'' It is the largest fishing port in England. Newlyn lies on the shore of Mount's Bay and for ...

style, and from 1889 to 1891 he sailed in a boat around Britain. When he returned, Cayley Robinson studied at the

Académie Julian The () was a private art school for painting and sculpture founded in Paris, France, in 1867 by French painter and teacher Rodolphe Julian (1839–1907). The school was active from 1868 through 1968. It remained famous for the number and qual ...

in Paris from 1891 to 1894. The artist's time studying at the académie had a critical influence on his entire artistic output, which displays the influence of European

Symbolism Symbolism or symbolist may refer to: *Symbol, any object or sign that represents an idea Arts *Artistic symbol, an element of a literary, visual, or other work of art that represents an idea ** Color symbolism, the use of colors within various c ...

, especially the avant-garde group the

Nabis Nabis may refer to: * Nabis of Sparta, reigned 207–192 BCE * Nabis (art), a Parisian post-Impressionist artistic group * ''Nabis'' (bug), a genus of insects * NABIS, National Ballistics Intelligence Service, a British government agency See a ...

and the revival of interest in

Edward Burne-Jones Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones, 1st Baronet, (; 28 August 183317 June 1898) was an English painter and designer associated with the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood's style and subject matter. Burne-Jones worked with William Morris as a founding part ...

in Paris at this time. Like many of his peers, Cayley Robinson felt drawn to a new style of art, moving away from modern

impressionism Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by visible brush strokes, open Composition (visual arts), composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passage ...

and appearing to emulate the visionary medievalism of the

Pre-Raphaelites 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 Rossetti ...

. Various connections — for example with the

Glasgow School of Art The Glasgow School of Art (GSA; ) is a higher education art school based in Glasgow, Scotland, offering undergraduate degrees, post-graduate awards (both taught and research-led), and PhDs in architecture, fine art, and design. These are all awa ...

, and within the circle of

Charles Ricketts Charles de Sousy Ricketts (2 October 1866 – 7 October 1931) was a British artist, illustrator, author and printer, known for his work as a book designer and typographer and for his costume and scenery designs for plays and operas. Ricketts ...

and Charles Shannon — brought Cayley Robinson closer to the occult revival of the period, including the Golden Dawn and

esotericism Esotericism may refer to: * Eastern esotericism, a broad range of religious beliefs and practices originating from the Eastern world, characterized by esoteric, secretive, or occult elements * Western esotericism, a wide range of loosely related id ...

. This context also infused his artworks. From the late 1890s, Cayley Robinson developed his own distinctive oeuvre of artistic expression which combined simple, quiet domesticity – the everyday - with hints of the occult, the mysterious, and the wondrous. From 1898 to 1901, like many artists of the period, Cayley Robinson visited Florence and during that time studied the

Old Masters In art history, "Old Master" (or "old master")Old Masters De ...

and techniques such as

tempera Tempera (), also known as egg tempera, is a permanent, fast-drying painting medium consisting of pigments mixed with a water-soluble binder medium, usually glutinous material such as egg yolk. ''Tempera'' also refers to the paintings done in ...

. In 1904, he became a founder member of the Society of Painters in Tempera. This brought him in contact with a number of other like-minded artists, notably

Mary Sargant Florence Emma Mary Sargant Florence (21 July 1857 – 14 December 1954) was a British painter of figure subjects, mural decorations in fresco and occasional landscapes in watercolour and pastel. Biography Emma Mary Sargant was born in London. Her fat ...

and Lady

Christiana Herringham Christiana Jane Herringham, Lady Herringham (née Powell; 1852–1929) was a British artist, copyist, and art patron. She is noted for her part in establishing the National Art Collections Fund in 1903 to help preserve Britain's artistic heritag ...

, both of whom were involved with the

suffrage movement Women's suffrage is the women's rights, right of women to Suffrage, vote in elections. Several instances occurred in recent centuries where women were selectively given, then stripped of, the right to vote. In Sweden, conditional women's suffra ...

. He was elected a member of the

Royal Institute of Oil Painters The Royal Institute of Oil Painters, also known as ROI, is an association of painters in London, England, and is the only major art society which features work done only in oil. It is a member society of the Federation of British Artists. Histor ...

in 1906. He was elected a member of the NEAC in 1912. In 1919 he was elected a member of the RWS. He was elected ARA (Associate of the Royal Academy of Art) in 1921. A central theme of Cayley Robinson's paintings was enchantment. He produced very popular illustrations, set designs and costumes for the

Haymarket Theatre The Theatre Royal Haymarket (also known as Haymarket Theatre or the Little Theatre) is a West End theatre in Haymarket, London, Haymarket in the City of Westminster which dates back to 1720, making it the third-oldest London playhouse still in ...

production in London of

Maurice Maeterlinck Maurice Polydore Marie Bernard Maeterlinck (29 August 1862 – 6 May 1949), also known as Count/Comte Maeterlinck from 1932, was a Belgian playwright, poet, and essayist who was Flemish but wrote in French. He was awarded the 1911 Nobel Prize in ...

's '' The Blue Bird'' in 1910. In the period 1907-1914, Cayley Robinson was connected with the London based Art Theosophical Circle, a group which sought forms of artistic enchantment in the modern world. The artist contributed illustrations for their published journal ''Orpheus''. In 1914, Cayley Robinson moved with his family into 1 Lansdowne House, Lansdowne Road, Kensington, London. This was a custom-built studio apartment block inhabited solely by artists. In the same year, the artist took up his only teaching professorship, at the Glasgow School of Art, which he held for ten years. Frederick Cayley Robinson died of influenza on 4 January 1927 in a nursing home at 1 Ladbroke Square, Kensington; he was survived by his wife and their daughter Barbara.

''The Outward Bound''

Cayley Robinson painted two works named ''The Outward Bound''. His 1903 work shows a young man in a small boat in a harbour watching as a large sailing ship is towed out to sea by a tug. The 1912 work has the same composition, but the departing ship is a four-funnelled

liner Liner or LINER may refer to: Line drawing * Eye liner, a type of makeup * Marker pen, a porous-tip pen with its own ink source * Multiple lining tool used in engraving * A sable brush used by coach painters Linings * Acoustic liner, a no ...

, identified as the ''Titanic'' which sank on its maiden voyage in that year. This version was given to

Leeds City Art Gallery Leeds Art Gallery in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, is a gallery, part of the Leeds Museums & Galleries group, whose collection of 20th-century British Art was designated by the British government in 1997 as a collection "of national importance ...

by the Leeds Professional Musicians, in memory of Wallace Hartley, the violinist from

Dewsbury Dewsbury is a market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees in West Yorkshire, England. It lies on the River Calder, West Yorkshire, River Calder and on an arm of the Calder and Hebble Navigation waterway. It is to the west of Wakefield, ...

who led the orchestra on the ''Titanic'' and died when it sank. The painting was unveiled in the City Art Gallery by the Lord Mayor of Leeds on 23 December 1912. The 1903 work is in

gouache Gouache (; ), body color, or opaque watercolor is a water-medium paint consisting of natural pigment, water, a binding agent (usually gum arabic or dextrin), and sometimes additional inert material. Gouache is designed to be opaque. Gouach ...

and pencil and measures while the 1912 work is an

oil painting Oil painting is a painting method involving the procedure of painting with pigments combined with a drying oil as the Binder (material), binder. It has been the most common technique for artistic painting on canvas, wood panel, or oil on coppe ...

of .

Exhibitions

During his lifetime, Cayley Robinson regularly exhibited at 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 ...

and the Society of British Painters and held several important solo shows. His first one man exhibition was held at the Baillie Gallery, London, in 1904. After his death in 1927, Memorial exhibitions of his work were held in 1928 and 1929. Seventy of his paintings, lent from public and private collections, were exhibited by the

Fine Art Society The Fine Art Society is a gallery based in both London and in Edinburgh's New Town (originally Bourne Fine Art, established 1978). The New Bond Street, London gallery closed its doors in August 2018 after being occupied by The Fine Art Society ...

at 148 New Bond St, London, 18 October - 11 November 1977, and at 12 Great King St, Edinburgh, 18 November - 10 December 1977. Whilst neglected for much of the twentieth century, there has been an increase in the exhibition of Cayley Robinson's work in the twenty-first century: 2006-7: ''Chasing Happiness'' at the

Fitzwilliam Museum The Fitzwilliam Museum is the art and antiquities University museum, museum of the University of Cambridge. It is located on Trumpington Street opposite Fitzwilliam Street in central Cambridge. It was founded in 1816 under the will of Richard ...

, Cambridge, which displayed his illustrations for

's '' The Blue Bird'' 2010: the

National Gallery The National Gallery is an art museum in Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, in Central London, England. Founded in 1824, it houses a collection of more than 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900. The current di ...

displayed six works by Cayley Robinson including the four panels of the ''Acts of Mercy'' mural series, which had been rescued and purchased by the

Wellcome Trust The Wellcome Trust is a charitable foundation focused on health research based in London, United Kingdom. It was established in 1936 with legacies from the pharmaceutical magnate Henry Wellcome (founder of Burroughs Wellcome, one of the predec ...

in 2007 2022-23: Many of Cayley Robinson's artworks featured in the exhibition ''Modern Pre-Raphaelite Visionaries: British Art, 1880-1930'' at the Leamington Spa Art Gallery, 13 May - 18 September 2022 and the

Watts Gallery Watts Gallery – Artists' Village is an art gallery in the village of Compton, near Guildford in Surrey. It is dedicated to the work of the Victorian-era painter and sculptor George Frederic Watts. The gallery has been Grade II* listed on t ...

, Compton from October 2022- February 2023). A publication entitled ''Modern Pre-Raphaelite Visionaries: British Art, 1880-1930'' was produced to coincide with the exhibition.

Family

Cayley Robinson married in 1898, in

Bradford-on-Avon Bradford-on-Avon (sometimes Bradford on Avon) is a town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in west Wiltshire (district), Wiltshire, England, near the border with Somerset. The town's canal, historic buildings, shops, pubs and restauran ...

, the painter and illustrator Winifred Lucy Dalley (1861-1936), daughter of the stockbroker John Lambert Dalley. They had one daughter, Barbara (1901-1986), born in Italy, who was a painter of portraits and landscapes. Winifred died in 1936 in their home in

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 ...

Gallery

The Foundling 1896.jpg, ''The Foundling'', 1896, Leamington Spa Art Gallery The-blue-bird-dreamships.jpg, ''The Blue Bird Dreamships'', 1900, Leamington Spa Art Gallery Robinson picnic.jpg, ''Men, women, and children at a picnic in the park'' (detail), 1900 The-call-of-the-sea-frederick-cayley-robinson.jpg, ''The Call of the Sea'', c. 1900 FR Robinson.jpg, ''A Winter Evening'', c. 1900 FC Robinson3.jpg, ''The South Wind'', 1903 Oil Painting by Cayley Robinson Wellcome L0051546.jpg, ''Orphan girls entering the refectory of a hospital'', 1915,

Wellcome Collection Wellcome Collection is a museum and library based at 183 Euston Road, London, England, displaying a mixture of medical artefacts and original artworks exploring "ideas about the connections between medicine, life and art". Founded in 2007, the W ...

Painting by Cayley Robinson Wellcome L0051541.jpg, ''Orphan girls in the refectory of a hospital, proceeding to their place at the table'', c. 1915,

The doctor Wellcome L0067101.jpg, ''The doctor'', 1916,

Frederick Cayley Robinson, The Outward Bound, 1903.jpg, ''The Outward Bound'', 1903 Frederick Cayley Robinson, The Outward Bound, 1912.jpg, ''The Outward Bound'', 1912, Leeds Art Gallery Cayley Robinson painting Wellcome L0051536.jpg, ''Wounded and sick men gathered outside a hospital'', 1920,

Frederick Cayley Robinson - The Word.jpg, ''The Word'', c. 1922 Tyltyl turns the Diamond, Frederick Cayley Robinson illustration from The Blue.jpg, ''Tyltyl Turns the Diamond'', illustration from ''The Blue Bird'', by Maurice Maeterlinck (48th ed. 1923) Frederick Cayley Robinson, The Youth, 1923, private collection.jpg, ''Youth'', 1923, private collection British industries.jpg, ''British Industries'', 1923,

Pinacoteca Nazionale (Siena) The Pinacoteca Nazionale is a national museum in Siena, Tuscany, Italy. Inaugurated in 1932, it houses especially late medieval and Renaissance paintings from Italian artists. It is housed in the Brigidi and Buonsignori palaces in the city's cente ...

Frédéric Cayley Robnson,1862-1927, Pastorale, Tate Britain..jpg, ''Pastoral'', 1923-24,

References

External links

*
National Gallery exhibition 2010

Review of the 2010 Tate exhibition
''

Evening Standard The ''London Standard'', formerly the ''Evening Standard'' (1904–2024) and originally ''The Standard'' (1827–1904), is a long-established regional newspaper published weekly and distributed free newspaper, free of charge in London, Engl ...

''
Review of the 2010 Tate exhibition
''The Guardian''
Slideshow of the 'Acts of Mercy'
''The Guardian''
Wellcome Collection Library Catalogue
{{DEFAULTSORT:Robinson, Frederick Cayley 19th-century English painters English male painters 20th-century English painters English modern painters 1927 deaths 1862 births Deaths from influenza in the United Kingdom People from Brentford Associates of the Royal Academy Alumni of the Royal Academy Schools Artists from the London Borough of Hounslow 20th-century English male artists 19th-century English male artists