John Frederick Tayler
Encyclopedia
Frederick Tayler (30 April 1802 – 20 June 1889) was a 19th century English landscape watercolour painter, and president of the Royal Watercolour Society
.
, Hertfordshire
, on 30 April 1802. His siblings included Henry Joseph (b.1787), Elisa (b.1789), Sarah Maria (b.1790), Susannah Matilda (b.1791), Julia (b.1793), George Robert (b. 1795), Charles (b.1796), Anna Frances (b.1797), Emily Susan (b.1799), Thomas Edward (b.1799), Joseph Francis (b.1805), Joseph Edward (b.1807), William (b.1808).
The elder Tayler was ruined by the dishonesty of an agent, and entered the army. He died while Frederick was still a child, leaving a widow and seventeen children, several of whom rose to a certain eminence in their careers. William Tayler, commissioner of Patna
in India, was a younger brother. The family had influential friends and some clerical interest.
, was dean of Christ Church, Oxford
, and the boy was educated successively at Eton College
and Harrow School
, and destined for the church. He soon, however, showed his strong artistic bent, and, in spite of domestic opposition, determined to become a painter.
After studying at Sass's school and at the Royal Academy
he went to Paris
, and worked for a time under Horace Vernet
, also frequenting the studio of Vernet's son-in-law, Paul Delaroche. From France he passed into Italy, where he spent some time, chiefly in Rome. While still a lad he met Richard Parkes Bonington
at Calais, and a friendship sprang up between the two painters, who for a time shared a studio in Paris.
was no doubt encouraged by Bonington, and though he made his début in the academy of 1830 with an oil-picture, ‘The Band of the 2nd Life Guards,’ he did not long hesitate in his choice of a medium. In mature life he occasionally turned his ambition towards oil, and even took some friendly lessons in Mr. W. P. Frith
's studio (Frith, Autobiography). It was, however, as a painter of ‘elegant’ sporting and pastoral scenes in watercolour that he achieved the popularity which was maintained throughout his long career. His sporting subjects were of two classes, some dealing with the costumes and accessories of eighteenth-century stag-hunts, others with incidents of contemporary sport in the highlands of Scotland. Akin to these were his illustrative drawings of costume and scenery, many of them suggested by incidents in the ‘Waverley Novels
.’
(the called the Old Watercolour’ Society), and in June 1834 he became a full member. He contributed in all about five hundred drawings to the society's exhibitions, about half of which appeared during Copley Fielding
's presidency (1831–1855). A dozen of these were painted in collaboration with the younger George Barret (d. 1842), and one, ‘The Favourites,’ with Thomas Miles Richardson
On the death of Fielding in 1855 Tayler, as senior member of the committee of management, was vice-president for the year, and discharged the duties of president during the interregnum of eight months which, out of respect for Fielding's memory, was allowed to pass before the election of his successor. In his official capacity Tayler became a member of the fine arts committee for the Paris Exhibition of 1855
, as well as one of the jury. On his arrival in Paris, however, the hanging of the pictures was practically completed. He was nevertheless fiercely attacked in connection with some alleged unfairness, notably as regards the works of John Frederick Lewis
. His distress at this affair brought on a serious illness, from the effects of which he did not finally recover until peace was restored in the society by the election of Lewis as president.
In February 1858 Lewis resigned office, and Tayler was unanimously elected president. He filled this position for over twelve years, and retired in June 1871. He continued to send drawings to the society's exhibitions down to the time of his death. This took place at West Hampstead on 20 June 1889. He was buried in Hampstead cemetery. His drawings and sketches were sold at Christie's on 15 Feb. 1890. Tayler married, in 1837, Jane Parratt, and left several children, one of whom, Norman Tayler, followed his father's profession, and became an associate of the Watercolour Society in 1878.
, described his style as having:
Royal Watercolour Society
The Royal Watercolour Society is an English institution of painters working in watercolours...
.
Personal
Frederick was the son of a country gentleman, Archdale Wilson Tayler and his wife Frances Eliza, and was born at Boreham Wood, ElstreeElstree
Elstree is a village in the Hertsmere borough of Hertfordshire on the A5 road, about 10 miles north of London. In 2001, its population was 4,765, and forms part of the civil parish of Elstree and Borehamwood, originally known simply as Elstree....
, Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England. The county town is Hertford.The county is one of the Home Counties and lies inland, bordered by Greater London , Buckinghamshire , Bedfordshire , Cambridgeshire and...
, on 30 April 1802. His siblings included Henry Joseph (b.1787), Elisa (b.1789), Sarah Maria (b.1790), Susannah Matilda (b.1791), Julia (b.1793), George Robert (b. 1795), Charles (b.1796), Anna Frances (b.1797), Emily Susan (b.1799), Thomas Edward (b.1799), Joseph Francis (b.1805), Joseph Edward (b.1807), William (b.1808).
The elder Tayler was ruined by the dishonesty of an agent, and entered the army. He died while Frederick was still a child, leaving a widow and seventeen children, several of whom rose to a certain eminence in their careers. William Tayler, commissioner of Patna
Patna
Paṭnā , is the capital of the Indian state of Bihar and the second largest city in Eastern India . Patna is one of the oldest continuously inhabited places in the world...
in India, was a younger brother. The family had influential friends and some clerical interest.
Education
Frederick's uncle, Charles Henry HallCharles Henry Hall
Charles Henry Hall was an English churchman and academic, Dean of Christ Church, Oxford and then Dean of Durham.-Life:He was the son of Charles Hall, dean of Bocking, Essex, and uncle of watercolour artist John Frederick Tayler. He was admitted to Westminster School in 1775, was elected Christ...
, was dean of Christ Church, Oxford
Christ Church, Oxford
Christ Church or house of Christ, and thus sometimes known as The House), is one of the largest constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England...
, and the boy was educated successively at Eton College
Eton College
Eton College, often referred to simply as Eton, is a British independent school for boys aged 13 to 18. It was founded in 1440 by King Henry VI as "The King's College of Our Lady of Eton besides Wyndsor"....
and Harrow School
Harrow School
Harrow School, commonly known simply as "Harrow", is an English independent school for boys situated in the town of Harrow, in north-west London.. The school is of worldwide renown. There is some evidence that there has been a school on the site since 1243 but the Harrow School we know today was...
, and destined for the church. He soon, however, showed his strong artistic bent, and, in spite of domestic opposition, determined to become a painter.
After studying at Sass's school and at the Royal Academy
Royal Academy
The Royal Academy of Arts is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly, London. The Royal Academy of Arts has a unique position in being an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects whose purpose is to promote the creation, enjoyment and...
he went to Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, and worked for a time under Horace Vernet
Horace Vernet
Émile Jean-Horace Vernet was a French painter of battles, portraits, and Orientalist Arab subjects.Vernet was born to Carle Vernet, another famous painter, who was himself a son of Claude Joseph Vernet. He was born in the Paris Louvre, while his parents were staying there during the French...
, also frequenting the studio of Vernet's son-in-law, Paul Delaroche. From France he passed into Italy, where he spent some time, chiefly in Rome. While still a lad he met Richard Parkes Bonington
Richard Parkes Bonington
Richard Parkes Bonington was an English Romantic landscape painter. One of the most influential British artists of his time, the facility of his style was inspired by the old masters, yet was entirely modern in its application.-Life and work:Richard Parkes Bonington was born in the town of Arnold,...
at Calais, and a friendship sprang up between the two painters, who for a time shared a studio in Paris.
Watercolours
Tayler's fondness for water-colourWatercolor painting
Watercolor or watercolour , also aquarelle from French, is a painting method. A watercolor is the medium or the resulting artwork in which the paints are made of pigments suspended in a water-soluble vehicle...
was no doubt encouraged by Bonington, and though he made his début in the academy of 1830 with an oil-picture, ‘The Band of the 2nd Life Guards,’ he did not long hesitate in his choice of a medium. In mature life he occasionally turned his ambition towards oil, and even took some friendly lessons in Mr. W. P. Frith
William Powell Frith
William Powell Frith , was an English painter specialising in genre subjects and panoramic narrative works of life in the Victorian era. He was elected to the Royal Academy in 1852...
's studio (Frith, Autobiography). It was, however, as a painter of ‘elegant’ sporting and pastoral scenes in watercolour that he achieved the popularity which was maintained throughout his long career. His sporting subjects were of two classes, some dealing with the costumes and accessories of eighteenth-century stag-hunts, others with incidents of contemporary sport in the highlands of Scotland. Akin to these were his illustrative drawings of costume and scenery, many of them suggested by incidents in the ‘Waverley Novels
Waverley Novels
The Waverley Novels are a long series of books by Sir Walter Scott. For nearly a century they were among the most popular and widely-read novels in all of Europe. Because he did not publicly acknowledge authorship until 1827, they take their name from Waverley , which was the first...
.’
Old Watercolour Society
In February 1831 Tayler was elected an associate of the Royal Watercolour SocietyRoyal Watercolour Society
The Royal Watercolour Society is an English institution of painters working in watercolours...
(the called the Old Watercolour’ Society), and in June 1834 he became a full member. He contributed in all about five hundred drawings to the society's exhibitions, about half of which appeared during Copley Fielding
Copley Fielding
Anthony Vandyke Copley Fielding , commonly called Copley Fielding, was an English painter born in Sowerby, near Halifax and famous for his watercolour landscapes. At an early age Fielding became a pupil of John Varley...
's presidency (1831–1855). A dozen of these were painted in collaboration with the younger George Barret (d. 1842), and one, ‘The Favourites,’ with Thomas Miles Richardson
Thomas Miles Richardson
-Life:He was born at Newcastle on 15 May 1784. His father, George Richardson was the master of St. Andrew's grammar school, Newcastle; Moses Aaron Richardson was a younger brother....
On the death of Fielding in 1855 Tayler, as senior member of the committee of management, was vice-president for the year, and discharged the duties of president during the interregnum of eight months which, out of respect for Fielding's memory, was allowed to pass before the election of his successor. In his official capacity Tayler became a member of the fine arts committee for the Paris Exhibition of 1855
Exposition Universelle (1855)
The Exposition Universelle of 1855 was an International Exhibition held on the Champs-Elysées in Paris from May 15 to November 15, 1855. Its full official title was the Exposition Universelle des produits de l'Agriculture, de l'Industrie et des Beaux-Arts de Paris 1855.The exposition was a major...
, as well as one of the jury. On his arrival in Paris, however, the hanging of the pictures was practically completed. He was nevertheless fiercely attacked in connection with some alleged unfairness, notably as regards the works of John Frederick Lewis
John Frederick Lewis
John Frederick Lewis was an Orientalist English painter. He specialized in Oriental and Mediterranean scenes and often worked in exquisitely detailed watercolour. He was the son of Frederick Christian Lewis , engraver and landscape-painter.Lewis lived in Spain between 1832 and 1834...
. His distress at this affair brought on a serious illness, from the effects of which he did not finally recover until peace was restored in the society by the election of Lewis as president.
In February 1858 Lewis resigned office, and Tayler was unanimously elected president. He filled this position for over twelve years, and retired in June 1871. He continued to send drawings to the society's exhibitions down to the time of his death. This took place at West Hampstead on 20 June 1889. He was buried in Hampstead cemetery. His drawings and sketches were sold at Christie's on 15 Feb. 1890. Tayler married, in 1837, Jane Parratt, and left several children, one of whom, Norman Tayler, followed his father's profession, and became an associate of the Watercolour Society in 1878.
Works
Many of Tayler's best known drawings, such as ‘Weighing the Deer’ and ‘Crossing the Brook,’ were engraved. He himself executed some two dozen ‘lithotints,’ which were published by T. McLean in 1844, under the title of ‘Frederick Tayler's Portfolio.’ A member of the ‘Etching Club,’ he etched a number of small plates for the various publications of that body (Goldsmith's ‘Deserted Village,’ ‘Songs of Shakespeare,’ ‘Etched Thoughts,’ &c.), and also made drawings on wood for several popular classics, such as Thomson's ‘Seasons,’ ‘Sir Roger de Coverley,’ and Goldsmith's ‘Works.’ His art, though now somewhat old-fashioned, had a great vogue in his day, some of his drawings fetching over £350. at public auction in the 1900s. His powers were best displayed in rapid and suggestive sketches, in which, says Mr. Ruskin, ‘the quantity of effect obtained is enormous in proportion to the apparent means’.Style
English artist and critic, Philip Gilbert HamertonPhilip Gilbert Hamerton
Philip Gilbert Hamerton , was an English artist and art critic and author.He was born at Laneside, a hamlet in Crompton, Lancashire, England. His mother died giving birth to him, and his father died ten years later...
, described his style as having:
- ".. two distinct manners as an etcher: the highly-finished modern way, depending greatly on crevés,* of various depth, and on dry-point whose bur is removed; and another manner, resembling the work of a draughtsman on wood, in which the peculiar powers of etching are abandoned."
Books illustrated
- William John Thoms, Gammer Gurton's famous histories of sir Guy of Warwick, sir Bevis of Hampton [&c.] revised and amended by Amb[rose] Mer[ton], Published 1846 http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=BjAEAAAAQAAJ&dq=%22Frederick%20Tayler%22&pg=PT9#v=onepage&q=%22Frederick%20Tayler%22&f=false
- John Milton, L'Allegro', Publisher: the Etching club, 1849. http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=U0JAAAAAYAAJ&dq=%22Frederick%20Tayler%22&pg=PT16#v=onepage&q=%22Frederick%20Tayler%22&f=false