Walter Frederick Roope Tyndale (1855–1943) was a British

watercolour 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 ...

ist of landscapes, architecture and street scenes, book illustrator and travel writer.

Life and works

Life as an artist

Tyndale was born and brought up in the medieval town of

Bruges Bruges ( , ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the province of West Flanders, in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is in the northwest of the country, and is the sixth most populous city in the country. The area of the whole city amoun ...

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

, and trained initially at the "Bruges Academy of Art". When he was 16, his family returned to England, settling in

Bath Bath may refer to: * Bathing, immersion in a fluid ** Bathtub, a large open container for water, in which a person may wash their body ** Public bathing, a public place where people bathe * Thermae, ancient Roman public bathing facilities Plac ...

Somerset Somerset ( , ), Archaism, archaically Somersetshire ( , , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel, Gloucestershire, and Bristol to the north, Wiltshire to the east ...

for several years. At the age of 18, he returned to Belgium, studying art first at the

Academy An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the go ...

Antwerp Antwerp (; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of Antwerp Province, and the third-largest city in Belgium by area at , after ...

, then moving to Paris where he studied under

Léon Bonnat Léon Joseph Florentin Bonnat (; 20 June 1833 – 8 September 1922) was a French painter, Grand Officer of the Légion d'honneur, art collector and professor at the Ecole des Beaux Arts. Early life Bonnat was born in Bayonne, but from 1846 to 1853 ...

and Jan van Beers. In the 1870s, At the age of 21, circumstances obliged him to return to England in order to make a living from his art. He painted portraits and

genre works Genre art is the pictorial representation in any of various media of scenes or events from everyday life, such as markets, domestic settings, interiors, parties, inn scenes, work, and street scenes. Such representations (also called genre works, ...

oils An oil is any nonpolar chemical substance that is composed primarily of hydrocarbons and is hydrophobic (does not mix with water) and lipophilic (mixes with other oils). Oils are usually flammable and surface active. Most oils are unsaturat ...

, and married a Miss Evelyn Dorothea Barnard. Until about 1890, he was known mainly as a portrait painter, but then moved to

Haslemere The town of Haslemere () and the villages of Shottermill and Grayswood are in south-west Surrey, England, around south-west of London. Together with the settlements of Hindhead and Beacon Hill (Hindhead, Surrey), Beacon Hill, they comprise ...

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 ...

, started to teach art and switched to

painting.Holland, Clive.
Walter Tyndale: The man and his art
' (The Studio, volume 38, 1906, p288 ff). He eventually commissioned the building of an

Arts and Crafts movement The Arts and Crafts movement was an international trend in the decorative and fine arts that developed earliest and most fully in the British Isles and subsequently spread across the British Empire and to the rest of Europe and America. Initiat ...

-style house for himself called " Broad Dene", located on ''Hill Road'' in the town. Tyndale travelled to the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

(with friend and fellow artist

Claude Hayes Sir Claude James Hayes (23 March 1912 – 20 November 1996) was a British civil servant who was Chairman of Crown Agents for Oversea Governments and Administrations from 1968 to 1974. He was educated at Ardingly College, graduated with a fi ...

), then to

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

, where he held a successful exhibition in

Porto Porto (), also known in English language, English as Oporto, is the List of cities in Portugal, second largest city in Portugal, after Lisbon. It is the capital of the Porto District and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto c ...

. Subsequently, he painted in England (in a sketching group organised by

Helen Allingham Helen Allingham (Birth name, née Paterson; 26 September 1848 – 28 September 1926) was a British watercolourist and illustrator of the Victorian era. Biography Helen Mary Elizabeth Paterson was born on 26 September 1848, at Swadlincote in ...

near

Maidstone Maidstone is the largest Town status in the United Kingdom, town in Kent, England, of which it is the county town. Maidstone is historically important and lies east-south-east of London. The River Medway runs through the centre of the town, l ...

in Kent), and abroad in

Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...

Tunisia Tunisia, officially the Republic of Tunisia, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered by Algeria to the west and southwest, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Tunisia also shares m ...

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

Lebanon Lebanon, officially the Republic of Lebanon, is a country in the Levant region of West Asia. Situated at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian Peninsula, it is bordered by Syria to the north and east, Israel to the south ...

Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

Sicily Sicily (Italian language, Italian and ), officially the Sicilian Region (), is an island in the central Mediterranean Sea, south of the Italian Peninsula in continental Europe and is one of the 20 regions of Italy, regions of Italy. With 4. ...

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 ...

and Rothenburg, Bavaria (a town he described as "a little paradise for sketchers").

Illustrated books

Tyndale was one of the first illustrators to benefit from new developments in

colour printing Color printing or colour printing is the reproduction of an image or text in color (as opposed to simpler black and white or monochrome printing). History of color printing Woodblock printing on textiles preceded printing on paper in both Eas ...

in the early 20th century, which led to a surge in demand for illustrations for travel books. He wrote and illustrated several volumes as well as providing pictures for other authors. His first commission was from Methuen for "The New Forest" (1904), and work on subsequent books (see bibliography) led to him travelling extensively in England,

, the

Middle East The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq. The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...

and

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

, painting landscapes, street scenes and architecture. For the book "

Wessex The Kingdom of the West Saxons, also known as the Kingdom of Wessex, was an Anglo-Saxon Heptarchy, kingdom in the south of Great Britain, from around 519 until Alfred the Great declared himself as King of the Anglo-Saxons in 886. The Anglo-Sa ...

" (

A & C Black A & C Black is a British book publishing company, owned since 2002 by Bloomsbury Publishing. The company is noted for publishing ''Who's Who'' since 1849 and the ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' between 1827 and 1903. It offers a wide variety of boo ...

, 1906), Tyndale painted landscapes and buildings in the

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 ...

of England, some of which had inspired

Thomas Hardy Thomas Hardy (2 June 1840 – 11 January 1928) was an English novelist and poet. A Literary realism, Victorian realist in the tradition of George Eliot, he was influenced both in his novels and in his poetry by Romanticism, including the poetry ...

's "

" novels. Some of these locations were suggested by Hardy himself, who praised the "fidelity, both in form and colour" of Tyndale's work. " The Studio" magazine commented on the "excellent draughtsmanship and the care with which architectural details are rendered".

Societies, exhibitions and legacy

Tyndale was a member of the

Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolours Royal may refer to: People * Royal (name), a list of people with either the surname or given name * A member of a royal family or royalty Places United States * Royal, Arkansas, an unincorporated community * Royal, Illinois, a village * Ro ...

(RI), a founding member of the "

Art Society" and president of the latter between 1930 and 1932. Tyndale exhibited his works at various venues including 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 ...

, the RI gallery in

Piccadilly Piccadilly () is a road in the City of Westminster, London, England, to the south of Mayfair, between Hyde Park Corner in the west and Piccadilly Circus in the east. It is part of the A4 road (England), A4 road that connects central London to ...

and Dowdeswell Galleries in London. His main artistic influences were his friend, the watercolourist Claude Hayes and, to a lesser extent, Helen Allingham Tyndale left three sizeable diaries, in which he recorded his travels, including correspondence with friends and family, postcards, photographs and some self-portraits.

Bibliography

Written and illustrated by Tyndale: *
Below the cataracts
' (J. B. Lippincott company, 1907). *
Japan & the Japanese
' (MacMillan, 1910). *
L'Égypte d'hier et d'aujourd'hui
' (Paris Hachette, 1910). *
An artist in Egypt
' (Hodder & Stoughton, 1912). *
An artist in Italy
' (Hodder & Stoughton, 1912). *
An artist in the Riviera
' (Hearst's International Library, 1915). *
Hardy country water-colours
' (A & C Black, 1920) — abridged version of 1906 book. (
Wessex
' (A & C Black, 1906) — painted by Walter Tyndale, described by

Clive Holland Clive Holland is an English television and radio presenter. From 2009 to 2013 he presented the BBC One daytime show '' Cowboy Trap''. He has also presented other programmes such as GMTV and Channel 4’s ''‘Big Big’ Holiday Show'' and on ...

. The illustrations derive from a June–July 1905 exhibition by Tyndale.) Illustrated by Tyndale: *Hutchinson, H. G.
The New Forest
' (Methuen, 1904) *Holland, Clive.
Wessex
' (London: A. & C. Black, 1906) * Charles G. Harper.
Wessex
' (London: A. & C. Black, 1911) *Taylor, Harriet Osgood.
Japanese gardens
' (London: Methuen & Co., 1912) *

Horatio Brown Horatio Robert Forbes Brown (16 February 1854 – 19 August 1926) was a Scottish historian who specialized in the Venice#History, history of Venice and history of Italy, Italy. Born in Nice, he grew up in Midlothian, Scotland, was educated in E ...

, ''Dalmatia: painted by Walter Tyndale, described by Horatio F. Brown'' (London: A. & C. Black, 1925)brief details
at books.google.com About Tyndale: *Holland, Clive.
Walter Tyndale: The man and his art
' (Studio International, volume 38, 1906, p288 ff). *Ackerman, Gerald M. ''Les orientalistes de l'Ecole britannique, volume 9'' (Art Creation Realisation, 1991) pp. 282–91.

References

External links

Works by Walter Tyndale
(Dorsetshire.com archive)
Japanese figures leaving a shrine
(

Christie's Christie's is a British auction house founded in 1766 by James Christie (auctioneer), James Christie. Its main premises are on King Street, St James's in London, and it has additional salerooms in New York, Paris, Hong Kong, Milan, Geneva, Shan ...

) * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Tyndale, Walter 1855 births 1943 deaths 19th-century English painters 20th-century English painters Artists' Rifles soldiers English watercolourists English illustrators English landscape painters English male painters English portrait painters English travel writers English orientalists English Orientalist painters Royal Academy of Fine Arts (Antwerp) alumni 20th-century English male artists 19th-century English male artists Belgian emigrants to the United Kingdom