Richard Redgrave (30 April 1804 in

Pimlico Pimlico () is an area of 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 London V ...

, London – 14 December 1888 in

Kensington Kensington is a district in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in the West End of London, 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 b ...

, London) 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 Samuel Redgrave (3 October 1802, London - 20 March 1876 London) was an English civil servant and writer on art. Life He was eldest son of William Redgrave, and brother of Richard Redgrave, and was born at 9 Upper Eaton Street, Pimlico, London. Whe ...

. While employed in his father's manufacturing firm, he visited the British Museum 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 be ...

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 on Piccadilly in London. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its pur ...

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 The Royal College of Art (RCA) is a public research university in London, United Kingdom, with campuses in South Kensington, Battersea and White City. It is the only entirely postgraduate art and design university in the United Kingdom. ...

, as botanical 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 in 1857. The first Keeper of Paintings at

South Kensington Museum South is one of the cardinal directions or compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both east and west. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Proto-Germanic ''*sunþaz' ...

, 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 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,

Buckingham Palace Buckingham Palace () is a London royal residence 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 royal hospitality. It ...

, Hampton Court, 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 in 1869. He died at 27 Hyde Park Gate, Kensington, London, on 14 December 1888 and is buried in Brompton Cemetery.

Gallery

File:RichardRedgraveBrompton01.jpg, Funerary monument, Brompton Cemetery File:St Mary Abbots 16.JPG, Memorial in St Mary Abbots, Kensington File:TheOutcastRichardRedgrave.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