Samuel Phillips Jackson, (1830–1904) was an English water-colour painter. He specialised in

landscape A landscape is the visible features of an area of land, its landforms, and how they integrate with natural or human-made features, often considered in terms of their aesthetic appeal.''New Oxford American Dictionary''. A landscape includes th ...

and

marine painting Marine art or maritime art is a form of figurative art (that is, painting, drawing, printmaking and sculpture) that portrays or draws its main inspiration from the sea. Maritime painting is a genre that depicts ships and the sea—a genre parti ...

Life

Samuel Phillips Jackson, born at

Bristol Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, the most populous city in the region. Built around the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by t ...

on 4 September 1830, was the only son of four children of

Samuel Jackson Samuel Leroy Jackson (born December 21, 1948) is an American actor. One of the most widely recognized actors of his generation, the films in which he has appeared have collectively grossed more than $27 billion worldwide, making him the hig ...

, landscape-painter, by his wife Jane Phillips. His sister

Jane Roeckel Jane Jackson Roeckel (19 October 1833 – 26 August 1907) was a British composer, inventor, pianist, and philanthropist. She composed songs and works for piano and piano rolls, including piano transcriptions of symphonies by composers such as Beeth ...

was a composer; his sister Ada Villiers was also a musician. He received early instruction in art from his father at Bristol, and studied figure drawing at the life school of the academy there. Among his early Bristol friends were James Francis Danby and Charles Branwhite.Owen 1912, p. 358. He soon directed his attention mainly to land- and sea-scape, and first exhibited in London at the age of twenty. In 1851 his ''Dismasted Ship off the Welsh Coast'' was shown at 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 ...

, where between that year and 1857 he exhibited nine pictures. He first 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 ...

in 1852, and from that year to 1881 sent eight paintings and eight drawings. On 14 February 1853 he was made associate of the Royal Water Colour Society, and henceforth confined himself to water colours, sending the maximum number of pictures (eight a year) to each summer exhibition of the society until 1876, when he was elected full member. By 1881 he had sent some 500 works to the winter and summer exhibitions. His earlier works, mainly in oils, showed a preference for

Devon Devon ( ; historically also known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel to the north, Somerset and Dorset to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Cornwall to the west ...

and Cornish coast scenes, and many of them won the praise of

Ruskin Ruskin may refer to: People and fictional characters * Ruskin (surname), a list of people and fictional characters * Ruskin (given name), a list of people Places United States * Ruskin, Florida, a census-designated place * Ruskin, Georgia, an uni ...

. His ''Coast of North Devon'' (British Institute) was bought by Mr. Bicknell. The more important were ''A Roadstead after a Gale, Twilight'' (Royal Academy 1852), ''Towing a Disabled Vessel'' (Royal Academy 1852), ''Hazy Morning on the Coast of Devon'' (1853), (the two latter afterwards entered the

Victoria and Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (abbreviated V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.8 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and named after Queen ...

, South Kensington), ''A Summer Day on the Coast'' (1855), ''The Breakwater and Chapel Rock, Bude'', and ''The Sands at Bude'' (1856), ''Dartmouth Harbour'' (1858), ''On the Hamoaze, Plymouth'' (1858, afterwards at South Kensington), ''Styhead Tarn, Cumberland'' (1858), and ''A Dead Calm far at sea'' (1858). A tour in Switzerland in 1858 with his father produced his ''Lake of Thun — Evening'', exhibited in 1859. Other sea-scapes followed: ''Bamborough'' in 1850, ''Whitby Pier in a Gale'' in 1863, and ''St. Ives' Pier'' in 1864.Owen 1912, pp. 358–359. In 1856 he removed to Streatley-on-Thames,

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of symbols, often specifically those of a written language, by means of Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifacete ...

, and subsequently to

Henley-on-Thames Henley-on-Thames ( ) is a town status in the United Kingdom, town and Civil parishes in England, civil parish on the River Thames, in the South Oxfordshire district, in Oxfordshire, England, northeast of Reading, Berkshire, Reading, west of M ...

. Thenceforward he chiefly devoted himself to views of the Thames. ''The Thames at Wargrave, Mid-day'' (afterwards at South Kensington) is dated 1866, and ''The Thames from Streatley Bridge'' 1868.Owen 1912, p. 359. Jackson had other than artistic interests. He was keenly interested in photography, and invented an instantaneous shutter for which he gained a medal from the

Royal Photographic Society The Royal Photographic Society of Great Britain, commonly known as the Royal Photographic Society (RPS), is the world's oldest photographic society having been in continuous existence since 1853. It was founded in London, England, in 1853 as th ...

. He moved in later life to Bristol and died unmarried at his residence there, 62 Clifton Park Road, on 27 January 1904.

Appraisal

According to William Benjamin Owen, Jackson's strength lay in firm and careful execution, and in restrained harmonies of tone and colour. In such early work as his ''Hazy Morning on the Coast of Devon'' he favoured restful sunlight effects. His handling of grey mist and clouds always skilfully interpreted the placid

West Country The West Country is a loosely defined area within southwest England, usually taken to include the counties of Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Somerset and Bristol, with some considering it to extend to all or parts of Wiltshire, Gloucestershire and ...

atmosphere.

References

Citations

Bibliography

* Greenacre, Francis (2004)
"Jackson, Samuel Phillips (1830–1904), watercolour painter"
In ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography''. Oxford University Press. * {{DEFAULTSORT:Jackson, Samuel Phillips 1830 births 1904 deaths 19th-century English painters English watercolourists