Walter Duncan (1847-1932) ARWS was a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

painter and

watercolorist Watercolor (American English) or watercolour (Commonwealth English; see American and British English spelling differences#-our, -or, spelling differences), also ''aquarelle'' (; from Italian diminutive of Latin 'water'), is a painting metho ...

Biography

Walter Duncan was born in

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 1847 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 ...

artist

Edward Duncan Edward Duncan (21 October 1803 – 11 April 1882) was a British watercolourist known for his depictions of coastal views and shipping. He was a member of the Royal Watercolour Society and received Royal patronage from Queen Victoria. Biography ...

RWS and his wife Berthia, the daughter of British marine painter

William John Huggins William John Huggins (1781 – 19 May 1845) was a British marine painter who won royal patronage for his work. Life Little is known of Huggins' early life. He made one voyage between December 1812 and August 1814 as an ordinary seaman on ...

. His older brother was the artist Allan Duncan (1844-1925). Walter Duncan studied at the

Heatherley School of Fine Art The Heatherley School of Fine Art is an independent art school in London. The school was named after Thomas Heatherley who took over as the school's principal from James Mathews Leigh (when it was named "Leigh's"). Founded in 1845, the school ...

before entering the

Royal Academy Schools 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 1874 he was elected an Associate of 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 ...

and his paintings from then on bear the initials A.R.W.S. beneath his signature. Although principally a watercolourist - he exhibited 224 paintings at the RWS - Walter Duncan also painted in oils, though examples are rare. In 1871 he married Harriet Charlotte Condy (1846-1880), the daughter of the painter Nicholas Matthews Condy. In 1883, after her death, he married Elizabeth Sophia Anne Haase Child Gascoyne, the daughter of an officer stationed in the

North-Western Provinces The North-Western Provinces was an Presidencies and provinces of British India, administrative region in British Raj, British India. The North-Western Provinces were established in 1836, through merging the administrative divisions of the Cede ...

. This led to a two-year stay in

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. Between 1869 and 1893 Duncan exhibited at the

, the

Royal Society of British Artists The Royal Society of British Artists (RBA) is a British art body established in 1823 as the Society of British Artists, as an alternative to the Royal Academy. History The RBA commenced with twenty-seven members, and took until 1876 to reach fi ...

, the

Grosvenor Gallery The Grosvenor Gallery was an art gallery in London founded in 1877 by Sir Coutts Lindsay and his wife Blanche. Its first directors were J. Comyns Carr and Charles Hallé. The gallery proved crucial to the Aesthetic Movement because it provid ...

, the New Gallery, and the

. From the 1870s he was also one of the principal artists of

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 ...

. He died in

Richmond, London Richmond is a town in south-west London,The London Government Act 1963 (c.33) (as amended) categorises the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames as an Outer London borough. Although it is on both sides of the River Thames, the Boundary Commis ...

in 1932.

Works in Museums

* ''Heathland Landscape'' in the A la Ronde,

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 ...

. * ''Fanciulla nel bosco'' (1898) and ''Venditrice di fiori a St. Martin in the Fields'' (1919) in the

Museo d'arte, Avellino The Museo d'arte is a museum for modern and contemporary art. It is in Avellino, Italy. The museum was opened on 2 January 1995. It was developed from the private gallery of O. Stefano into a museum open to the public. The design for the museum bu ...

. * ''The First Interview between Elizabeth Woodville and King Edward IV'' (1902) in the

Royal Collection The Royal Collection of the British royal family is the largest private art collection in the world. Spread among 13 occupied and historic List of British royal residences, royal residences in the United Kingdom, the collection is owned by King ...

, London. * ''Here Lotus Blossoms are found'' (1886) in the

, London. * Various landscapes in the

Craven Museum & Gallery Craven Museum & Gallery is a museum located in the town of Skipton, North Yorkshire, England, in Skipton Town Hall. The museum holds a collection of local artefacts that depict life in Craven from the prehistoric times to the modern day. O ...

Skipton Skipton (also known as Skipton-in-Craven) is a market town and civil parish in North Yorkshire, England. Historically in the East Division of Staincliffe Wapentake in the West Riding of Yorkshire, it is on the River Aire and the Leeds ...

North Yorkshire North Yorkshire is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in Northern England.The Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority areas of City of York, York and North Yorkshire (district), North Yorkshire are in Yorkshire and t ...

References

Bibliography

WRIGIT Christopher, GORDON Catherine Mary, SMITH Mary Peskett (2006)
“Walter Duncan”
in IDEM ''British and Irish Paintings in Public Collections'', New Haven 2006, Yale University Press, p. 310.

External links

Photo gallery
at artnet.com *
The Illustrated London News, 5 October 1872
at mediastorehouse.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Duncan, Walter 1848 births 1932 deaths People from the London Borough of Camden 19th-century English painters English male painters 20th-century English painters Painters from London 20th-century English male artists 19th-century English male artists