Luke Clennell (8 April 1781 – 9 February 1840) was a British wood-engraver and

painter Painting is a Visual arts, visual art, which is characterized by the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called "matrix" or "Support (art), support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with ...

Life

Clennell was born in

Ulgham Ulgham is a small village in Northumberland, England. The name Ulgham is pronounced 'Uffam': �ʊfəm(Northern England English, locally), �ʌfəm(Received Pronunciation, RP). It is known as the 'village of the owls'. History The name ...

near

Morpeth, Northumberland Morpeth is a historic market town in Northumberland, England, lying on the River Wansbeck. Nearby towns include Ashington, Northumberland, Ashington and Bedlington, Northumberland, Bedlington. In the United Kingdom Census 2011, 2011 census, th ...

, the son of a farmer. He was apprenticed to the

Newcastle upon Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne, or simply Newcastle ( , Received Pronunciation, RP: ), is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It is England's northernmost metropolitan borough, located o ...

wood-engraver

Thomas Bewick Thomas Bewick (c. 11 August 1753 – 8 November 1828) was an English wood engraving, wood-engraver and natural history author. Early in his career he took on all kinds of work such as engraving cutlery, making the wood blocks for advertisements, ...

in 1797. Between 1799 and 1803, he acted as Bewick's principal assistant on the second volume of his '' A History of British Birds''. After completing his seven-year apprenticeship with Bewick he moved to

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

in 1804, where he married a daughter of the copper-engraver Charles Turner Warren (1762–1823). Through his marriage he became acquainted with such book illustrators as William Finden and Abraham Raimbach. He gained a reputation as a wood-engraver, and in May 1806 he was awarded the gold palette of the

Royal Society of Arts The Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce, commonly known as the Royal Society of Arts (RSA), is a learned society that champions innovation and progress across a multitude of sectors by fostering creativity, s ...

for a wood-engraving of a battle scene. He subsequently gave up engraving for painting. In 1814, he received from the Earl of Bridgewater a commission for a large commemorative picture, ''Banquet for the Allied Sovereigns'', at the

Guildhall, London Guildhall is a municipal building in the City of London, England. It is off Gresham and Basinghall streets, in the wards of Bassishaw and Cheap. The current building dates from the 15th century; however documentary evidence suggests that a ...

. He experienced great difficulty in getting the more than 400 distinguished guests to sit for their portraits, suffered a mental breakdown, and spent some time in a mental asylum in

Salisbury Salisbury ( , ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and civil parish in Wiltshire, England with a population of 41,820, at the confluence of the rivers River Avon, Hampshire, Avon, River Nadder, Nadder and River Bourne, Wi ...

. Clennell was one of the competitors for the prize of one thousand guineas awarded by 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 ...

for the best finished sketches connected with the victories of the British Army in Spain, Portugal and France, the works to be submitted to the British Gallery in January 1816.Harrington, 1993. pp. 99–101. Thirteen artists submitted works, and Clennell received one of the premiums for his picture entitled ''The decisive charge of the Life Guards at Waterloo''. Clennell resumed work on the picture of the Allied Sovereigns in 1817, but suffered another bout of depressive mental illness, and his family found him throwing his palette and brushes at the canvas, "to get the proper expression." From then until his death in a Newcastle asylum in 1840 he was never well enough to work as an artist.Uglow, 2006. pp. 350–352. Luke Clennell00.jpg, ''A Wayside Inn'' Luke Clennell01.jpg, ''The Fair on the Thames'' Luke Clennell02.jpg, ''The Press Gang'' Luke Clennell - Baggage Wagons in a Thunderstorm - Google Art Project.jpg, Baggage Wagons in a Thunderstorm

References

Sources

* Bain, Iain.
Clennell, Luke, 1781–1840
' (Oxford Dictionary of National Biography). * * * Story, Alfred Thomas.
James Holmes and John Varley
' (London: R. Bentley, 1894). * Uglow, Jenny. ''Nature's Engraver. A Life of

.'' (London: Faber & Faber, 2006)

External links

Works by Luke Clennell
(Tate Online)
Launching the lifeboat
(1810 watercolour - South Shields Museum & Art Gallery)
18th-Century Blues: Exploring the Melancholy Mind
( Shipley Art Gallery) {{DEFAULTSORT:Clennell, Luke 1781 births 1840 deaths English wood engravers English illustrators English watercolourists 19th-century English painters English male painters People from Morpeth, Northumberland 19th-century English male artists