Richard Redgrave (30 April 1804 in

Pimlico Pimlico () is a district in Central London, in the City of Westminster, built as a southern extension to neighbouring Belgravia. It is known for its garden squares and distinctive Regency architecture. Pimlico is demarcated to the north by Lon ...

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 ...

– 14 December 1888 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 ...

) was an English landscape artist, genre painter, and administrator.

Early life

He was born in

, London, at 2 Belgrave Terrace, the second son of William Redgrave, and younger brother of Samuel Redgrave. While employed in his father's manufacturing firm, he visited the

British Museum The British Museum is a Museum, public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is the largest in the world. It documents the story of human cu ...

to make drawings of the

marble sculpture Marble has been the preferred material for stone monumental sculpture since ancient times, with several advantages over its more common geological "parent" limestone, in particular the ability to absorb light a small distance into the surface b ...

s there. His work ''The River Brent, near Hanwell'' of 1825 saw him admitted to 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 ...

schools the next year. He left his father's firm in 1830 and began to make a living teaching art..

Career

He worked at first as a designer. He was elected an Associate in 1840 and an Academician in 1851 (retired, 1882). His ''Gulliver on the Farmer's Table'' (1837) made his reputation as a painter. He became an assiduous painter of landscape and genre; his best pictures being ''Country Cousins'' (1848), ''Olivia's Return to her Parents'' (1839), ''The Sempstress'' (1844) and ''A Well-spring in the Forest'' (1877). Redgrave held three important exhibitions at the Royal Academy and one at Royal Society of Painter-Etchers and Engravers. Richard Redgrave by J

He began in 1847 a connection with the Government School of Design, as

botanical Botany, also called plant science, is the branch of natural science and biology studying plants, especially Plant anatomy, their anatomy, Plant taxonomy, taxonomy, and Plant ecology, ecology. A botanist or plant scientist is a scientist who s ...

lecturer and teacher, he became head-master in 1848, and art superintendent in 1852. He was inspector-general for art at the

Science and Art Department The Science and Art Department was a British government body which functioned from 1853 to 1899, promoting education in art, science, technology, and design in Britain and Ireland. Background The Science and Art Department was created as a subdi ...

in 1857. The first Keeper of Paintings at South Kensington Museum, he was greatly instrumental in the establishment of this institution, and he claimed the credit of having secured the Sheepshanks and Ellison gifts for the nation. Redgrave received the cross of the

Legion of Honour The National Order of the Legion of Honour ( ), formerly the Imperial Order of the Legion of Honour (), is the highest and most prestigious French national order of merit, both military and Civil society, civil. Currently consisting of five cl ...

after serving on the executive committee of the British section of the Paris Exhibition of 1855. The income provided for an impressive house at Hyde Park Gate, overlooking the park, in one of the most prestigious addresses in London. His children Evelyn Leslie Redgrave and Frances M Redgrave were celebrated painters. He was surveyor of crown pictures from 1856–80, during which period he produced a 34-volume catalogue detailing the pictures at

Windsor Castle Windsor Castle is a List of British royal residences, royal residence at Windsor, Berkshire, Windsor in the English county of Berkshire, about west of central London. It is strongly associated with the Kingdom of England, English and succee ...

Buckingham Palace Buckingham Palace () is a royal official residence, residence in London, and the administrative headquarters of the monarch of the United Kingdom. Located in the City of Westminster, the palace is often at the centre of state occasions and r ...

Hampton Court Hampton Court Palace is a Listed building, Grade I listed royal palace in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, southwest and upstream of central London on the River Thames. Opened to the public, the palace is managed by Historic Royal ...

, and other royal residences. Redgrave and his brother Samuel were the co-authors of the influential ''A Century of Painters of the English School,'' published in 1866, he also wrote also ''An Elementary Manual of Colour,'' 1853.

Later life

He was offered, but declined, a

knighthood A knight is a person granted an honorary title of a knighthood by a head of state (including the pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church, or the country, especially in a military capacity. The concept of a knighthood ...

in 1869. He died at 27

Hyde Park Gate Hyde Park Gate is a street in Central London, England, which applies to two parallel roads in Kensington on the southern boundary of Kensington Gardens. These two roads run south, perpendicular to Kensington Road, but the name Hyde Park Gate a ...

, Kensington, London, on 14 December 1888 and is buried in

Brompton Cemetery Brompton Cemetery (originally the West of London and Westminster Cemetery) is since 1852 the first (and only) London cemetery to be Crown Estate, Crown property, managed by The Royal Parks, in West Brompton in the Royal Borough of Kensington a ...

Gallery

File:RichardRedgraveBrompton01.jpg, Funerary monument,

File:St Mary Abbots 16.JPG, Memorial in

St Mary Abbots St Mary Abbots is a Church (building), church located on Kensington High Street and the corner of Kensington Church Street in London W8. The present church structure was built in 1872 to the designs of Sir George Gilbert Scott, who combined ne ...

, Kensington File:Bad News from Sea.png, ''Bad News from Sea'', 1842 File:Ophelia Weaving Her Garlands.png, ''Ophelia Weaving Her Garlands'', 1842 File:The Outcast (1851) - Richard Redgrave.jpg, ''The Outcast'' by Richard Redgrave File:Szene aus Gulliver's Reisen - Gulliver in Brobdingnag.jpg, ''Gulliver in Brobdingnag'', Victoria and Albert Museum

References

;Bibliography * * * *

External links

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Richard Redgrave , Artist , Royal Academy of ArtsRichard Redgrave 1804-1888 , TateBiography of Richard Redgrave, CB, RA - Victoria and Albert Museum
{{DEFAULTSORT:Redgrave, Richard 1804 births 1888 deaths 19th-century English painters English male painters English landscape artists Painters from London People from Pimlico Surveyors of the King's Pictures Burials at Brompton Cemetery Royal Academicians 19th-century English male artists