Myles Birket Foster (4 February 1825 – 27 March 1899) was a British

illustrator An illustrator is an artist who specializes in enhancing writing or elucidating concepts by providing a visual representation that corresponds to the content of the associated text or idea. The illustration may be intended to clarify complicate ...

watercolourist Watercolor (American English) or watercolour (Commonwealth English; see spelling differences), also ''aquarelle'' (; from Italian diminutive of Latin 'water'), is a painting method"Watercolor may be as old as art itself, going back to the S ...

and engraver in the

Victorian period In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the reign of Queen Victoria, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. Slightly different definitions are sometimes used. The era followed th ...

. His name is also to be found as Myles Birkett Foster.

Life and work

Foster was born in

North Shields North Shields ( ) is a town in the borough of North Tyneside in Tyne and Wear, England. It is north-east of Newcastle upon Tyne and borders nearby Wallsend and Tynemouth. The population of North Shields at the 2021–2022 United Kingdom cens ...

, England of a primarily Quaker family, but his family moved south to London in 1830, where his father founded M. B. Foster & sons — a successful beer-bottling company. He was schooled at

Hitchin Hitchin () is a market town in the North Hertfordshire Districts of England, district of Hertfordshire, England. The town dates from at least the 7th century. It lies in the valley of the River Hiz at the north-eastern end of the Chiltern Hills ...

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and one of the home counties. It borders Bedfordshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Essex to the east, Greater London to the ...

The Times Wednesday 29 March 1899 and on leaving initially went into his father's business. However, noticing his talent for art, his father secured an apprenticeship with the wood-engraver,

Ebenezer Landells Ebenezer Landells (Newcastle upon Tyne, Newcastle 13 April 1808 – 1 October 1860 London) was a British wood-engraver, illustrator, and magazine proprietor. Life Born in Newcastle, Landells was apprenticed to the wood-engraver Thomas Bewic ...

, where he worked on illustrations for '' Punch'' magazine and the ''

Illustrated London News ''The Illustrated London News'', founded by Herbert Ingram and first published on Saturday 14 May 1842, was the world's first illustrated weekly news magazine. The magazine was published weekly for most of its existence, switched to a less freq ...

''. Foster's boss was one of the founders of Punch, and for him was tasked to make and draw woodcuts, which were crafted with great finesse. Rural scenes taken from travels with his brother and friend Edmund Evans, could be supplemented by popular sporting events such as the early Oxford and Cambridge boat races. Landells was working from

Fleet Street Fleet Street is a street in Central London, England. It runs west to east from Temple Bar, London, Temple Bar at the boundary of the City of London, Cities of London and City of Westminster, Westminster to Ludgate Circus at the site of the Lo ...

when in July 1846 a famous image of

Tynemouth Priory Tynemouth Priory and Castle is a historic site located on a promontory at the mouth of the Tyne at Tynemouth. The medieval Benedictine priory was protected by walls, towers, and a gatehouse. The heraldry of the metropolitan borough of North Tyn ...

appeared with Birket Foster's own name; his apprenticeship had come to a conclusion. Myles Birket Foster2

On leaving Landells' employ, he continued to produce work for the ''Illustrated London News'' and the '' Illustrated London Almanack'', landing his first exhibition at the Suffolk Street Art Gallery, Westminster during the year 1843. His famous image of "A Christmas Holly Cart" was used by the new traders of seasonal cards, and included in the Illustrated London News by the end of 1848. He also found work as a book illustrator and, during the 1850s, trained himself to paint in

watercolours Watercolor (American English) or watercolour (Commonwealth English; see spelling differences), also ''aquarelle'' (; from Italian diminutive of Latin 'water'), is a painting method"Watercolor may be as old as art itself, going back to the S ...

. His illustrations of Longfellow’s ''

Evangeline ''Evangeline, A Tale of Acadie'' is an epic poem by the American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, written in English and published in 1847. The poem follows an Acadian girl named Evangeline and her search for her lost love Gabriel during the e ...

'' and books of poetry by other contemporaries were a great success, and he quickly became a successful

artist An artist is a person engaged in an activity related to creating art, practicing the arts, or demonstrating the work of art. The most common usage (in both everyday speech and academic discourse) refers to a practitioner in the visual arts o ...

in watercolours. He married for the first time on 13 August 1850, a young Geordie woman, and a cousin. Anne, the daughter of Robert Spence of North Shields, was descended from Robert Foster of Hebblethwaite Hall. They hailed from the hilltop gentry farming stock. Bringing a dowry and money to London, the newly-wed couple moved into a salubrious address on the edge of London at Marsden Villa, Clifton Road, on Clifton Hill in the fashionable district of St Johns Wood. Foster's parents were residing nearby transforming the northern family into thoroughgoing Londoners. Birket Foster became an Associate of the "Old" Watercolour Society (later the

Royal Watercolour Society The Royal Watercolour Society is a British institution of painters working in watercolours. The Society is a centre of excellence for water-based media on paper, which allows for a diverse and interesting range of approaches to the medium of wa ...

) in 1860 and exhibited some 400 of his paintings 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 ...

over more than 2 decades. Birket Foster travelled widely, painting the countryside around

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

, the

Rhine The Rhine ( ) is one of the List of rivers of Europe, major rivers in Europe. The river begins in the Swiss canton of Graubünden in the southeastern Swiss Alps. It forms part of the Swiss-Liechtenstein border, then part of the Austria–Swit ...

Valley, the

Swiss Swiss most commonly refers to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Swiss may also refer to: Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina * Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses * Swiss Café, an old café located ...

lakes and in

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

, especially

Venice Venice ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are li ...

. In 1863 he moved to

Witley Witley is a village in the civil parish of Witley and Milford in the Waverley (borough), Waverley district in Surrey, England. It is centred south west of the town of Godalming and southwest of Guildford. The land is a mixture of rural (ran ...

, near

Godalming Godalming ( ) is a market town and civil parish in southwest Surrey, England, around southwest of central London. It is in the Borough of Waverley, at the confluence of the Rivers Wey and Ock. The civil parish covers and includes the settl ...

Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

where he had an elaborate Tudor-style house ("The Hill") built. Being friendly with

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 ...

and

William Morris William Morris (24 March 1834 – 3 October 1896) was an English textile designer, poet, artist, writer, and socialist activist associated with the British Arts and Crafts movement. He was a major contributor to the revival of traditiona ...

, he had the house decorated and furnished in contemporary style, with tiles and paintings by Burne-Jones and Morris' firm, Morris and Company. The same year he published a volume of "English Landscapes," with text by

Tom Taylor Tom Taylor (19 October 1817 – 12 July 1880) was an English dramatist, critic, biographer, public servant, and editor of Punch (magazine), ''Punch'' magazine. Taylor had a brief academic career, holding the professorship of English literatu ...

. Although he had painted great numbers of landscape scenes from

to the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern ...

, it was after moving to Witley that Birket Foster produced the works for which he is best known—a sentimentalised view of the contemporary English countryside, particularly in the west Surrey area. Although criticised for their idealised view of rural life, they were recognised for their detail and execution. Birket Foster's work (along with that of other artists) was used by Cadburys, the chocolate manufacturer, on the cover of their chocolate boxes from the 1860s onwards. Printed in 1861, ''The Carewes: a tale of the Civil Wars'' was the swashbuckling royalist family history of a gentry on the edge of Windsor Forest, illustrated with fine images and a dashing flourish; it was much appreciated in America. "the dainty water-colour drawings executed...appeal to the majority of the British public more than the works of any other." So wrote H.M. Cundall in 1906 in the preface to a first biography. At Hambledon - Myles Birket Foster - ABDAG002600

At Hambledon - Myles Birket Foster - ABDAG002600

He became ill in 1893 and moved to

Weybridge Weybridge () is a town in the Borough of Elmbridge, Elmbridge district in Surrey, England, around southwest of central London. The settlement is recorded as ''Waigebrugge'' and ''Weibrugge'' in the 7th century and the name derives from a cro ...

. He continued painting, but died on 27 March 1899. His obituary in ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

'' referred to him as "certainly the most popular water-colour artist of our time". He is buried at All Saints' Church in Witley.

Friends and family

As well as Edward Burne-Jones and William Morris, his artist friends and associates included Fred Walker, Charles Keene and

William Quiller Orchardson Sir William Quiller Orchardson (27 March 1832 – 13 April 1910) was a Scotland, Scottish portraitist and painter of domestic and historical subjects who was knighted in June 1907, at the age of 75. Early years Orchardson was born in Edinbur ...

. In 1864, he married Frances, the daughter of Dawson Watson, and sister of the artist

John Dawson Watson John Dawson Watson (20 May 1832 – 3 January 1892) was a British painter, watercolorist, and illustrator. He was educated at King Edward VI Grammar School, Sedbergh School and Manchester School of Design. His son was the Impressionist pa ...

. Their eldest son, also called Myles Birket Foster (1851–1922), was an organist and composer who studied at the

Royal College of Music The Royal College of Music (RCM) is a conservatoire established by royal charter in 1882, located in South Kensington, London, UK. It offers training from the undergraduate to the doctoral level in all aspects of Western Music including pe ...

with Sullivan, Prout and Frederick Westlake. He was organist and choirmaster in

Marylebone Marylebone (usually , also ) is an area in London, England, and is located in the City of Westminster. It is in Central London and part of the West End. Oxford Street forms its southern boundary. An ancient parish and latterly a metropo ...

and at the Foundling Hospital Chapel among other places, and music director at the publisher

Boosey & Hawkes Boosey & Hawkes is a British Music publisher (sheet music), music publisher, purported to be the largest specialist classical music publisher in the world. Until 2003, it was also a major manufacturer of brass instrument, brass, string instru ...

. He composed symphonies, overtures, children's cantatas, a string quartet, trios and church music, and wrote a ''History of the Philharmonic Society'' (1913).Leach, Gerald. ''British Composer Profiles'', 3rd ed. (2012), p. 87

References

Bibliography

;Illustrated by Foster: * Beattie, James, ''The Minstrel; or, The Progress of Genisus'', (George Routledge, 1858) *Cowper, William, ''The Task; A Poem'', (James Nisbet & Co, 1855) * Falconer, William, ''The Shipwreck; A Poem'', (Adam and Charles Black, 1858) *Foster, Myles Birket.
Beauties of English Landscape
' (Routledge, Warne & Routledge, 1862). * Gillies, Mary.
The Carewes: A Tale of the Civil Wars
' (W. Kent & Co, 1861). *Gray, Thomas, ''The Poetical Works of Thomas Gray'', (Bickers & Son, 1859) *Miller, Thomas, ''Common Wayside Flowers'', (George Routledge, 1860) *Taylor, Tom.
Birket Foster's pictures of English landscape
' (George Routledge & sons, 1874). *Wordsworth, William.
The Deserted Cottage
' (George Routledge & Co., 1859). *Wordsworth, William.
Poetical Works
' (G. Routledge, 1858). ;About Foster: *Cundall, Herbert Minton.
Birket Foster, R. W. S
' (A & C Black, 1906); with colour plates. *Cundall, Herbert Minton.
Birket Foster, sixteen examples in colour of the artist's work
' (A. & C. Black, 1910). *Lewis, Frank. ''Birket Foster'' (Leigh on Sea: Lewis, 1973). *Reynolds, Jan. ''Myles Birket Foster'' (London: Batsford, 1984).

Life and work

Friends and family

References

Bibliography

External links