John William Inchbold
Encyclopedia
John William Inchbold was an English
painter born in Leeds
, Yorkshire
and influenced by the Pre-Raphaelite
style. He was the son of a Yorkshire newspaper
owner, Thomas Inchbold.
He became a pupil of Louis Haghe
, the water-colour painter, and was a student at the Royal Academy in 1847. He exhibited at the Society of British Artists in 1849, at the Academy in 1851, and in 1855 gained the enthusiastic praise of John Ruskin
for, ‘The Moorland’, which was painted in illustration of a famous passage in ‘Locksley Hall’. His 'White Doe of Rylstone' was purchased by Ruskin. These were almost his only pictures connected by their titles with poetical fancy or legend, the landscapes which down to 1885 he continued, in spite of incessant discouragement, to contribute to the Academy, being chiefly topographical; and perhaps Ruskin's praise of his stern fidelity made him too merely literal a transcriber of nature. His best-known works are probably ‘The Jungfrau' (1857), On the Lake of Thun (1860), Tintagel' (1862), 'Gordale Scar' (1876),and 'Drifting' (1883); the last named is in the possession of Mr. Coventry Patmore. Inchbold was happy all his life in the friendship of poets and men of genius, which consoled him for the hostility of the Academy and the indifference of the public. His faults, especially the frequent hardness and chilliness of his general effects, contrasted with the over-brightness of particular portions, undoubtedly militated against the general attractiveness of his work; his failings were obtrusive, and the recognition of his merits demanded insight and sympathy. For fidelity, delicacy, and true though unadorned poetry of feeling, no painter of his day stood higher. Tennyson, Browning, Lord Houghton, and Sir Henry Thompson were among his admirers and supporters, and in Dr. Russell Reynolds he found a liberal and discriminating patron. A year or two before his death he had returned from Algeria with a large collection of sketches, in which the ordinary defects of his manner were less apparent. He died suddenly of disease of the heart at Headingly, near Leeds, 23 Jan. 1888. His memory was shortly afterwards honoured by Mr. Swinburne in a funereal ode of surpassing beauty. Inchbold himself was a poet of considerable mark; the sonnets in his 'Annus Amoris’, 1877, are interesting tokens of a refined and poetical mind, though perhaps not one possesses the finish and concentration demanded by this most difficult form of composition.
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
painter born in Leeds
Leeds
Leeds is a city and metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. In 2001 Leeds' main urban subdivision had a population of 443,247, while the entire city has a population of 798,800 , making it the 30th-most populous city in the European Union.Leeds is the cultural, financial and commercial...
, Yorkshire
Yorkshire
Yorkshire is a historic county of northern England and the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its great size in comparison to other English counties, functions have been increasingly undertaken over time by its subdivisions, which have also been subject to periodic reform...
and influenced by the Pre-Raphaelite
Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood
The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood was a group of English painters, poets, and critics, founded in 1848 by William Holman Hunt, John Everett Millais and Dante Gabriel Rossetti...
style. He was the son of a Yorkshire newspaper
Newspaper
A newspaper is a scheduled publication containing news of current events, informative articles, diverse features and advertising. It usually is printed on relatively inexpensive, low-grade paper such as newsprint. By 2007, there were 6580 daily newspapers in the world selling 395 million copies a...
owner, Thomas Inchbold.
Biography
Inchbold was born 29 April 1830 at Leeds, where Thomas Inchbold, his father, was proprietor and editor of the 'Leeds Intelligencer’. Having a great talent for drawing in his boyhood, he started as a draughtsman in the lithographic works of Messrs. Day & Haghe.He became a pupil of Louis Haghe
Louis Haghe
Louis Haghe was a lithographer and watercolour artist.His father and grandfather had practised as architects. Training in his teens in watercolour painting, he found work in the relatively new art of lithography when the first press was set up in Tournai...
, the water-colour painter, and was a student at the Royal Academy in 1847. He exhibited at the Society of British Artists in 1849, at the Academy in 1851, and in 1855 gained the enthusiastic praise of John Ruskin
John Ruskin
John Ruskin was the leading English art critic of the Victorian era, also an art patron, draughtsman, watercolourist, a prominent social thinker and philanthropist. He wrote on subjects ranging from geology to architecture, myth to ornithology, literature to education, and botany to political...
for, ‘The Moorland’, which was painted in illustration of a famous passage in ‘Locksley Hall’. His 'White Doe of Rylstone' was purchased by Ruskin. These were almost his only pictures connected by their titles with poetical fancy or legend, the landscapes which down to 1885 he continued, in spite of incessant discouragement, to contribute to the Academy, being chiefly topographical; and perhaps Ruskin's praise of his stern fidelity made him too merely literal a transcriber of nature. His best-known works are probably ‘The Jungfrau' (1857), On the Lake of Thun (1860), Tintagel' (1862), 'Gordale Scar' (1876),and 'Drifting' (1883); the last named is in the possession of Mr. Coventry Patmore. Inchbold was happy all his life in the friendship of poets and men of genius, which consoled him for the hostility of the Academy and the indifference of the public. His faults, especially the frequent hardness and chilliness of his general effects, contrasted with the over-brightness of particular portions, undoubtedly militated against the general attractiveness of his work; his failings were obtrusive, and the recognition of his merits demanded insight and sympathy. For fidelity, delicacy, and true though unadorned poetry of feeling, no painter of his day stood higher. Tennyson, Browning, Lord Houghton, and Sir Henry Thompson were among his admirers and supporters, and in Dr. Russell Reynolds he found a liberal and discriminating patron. A year or two before his death he had returned from Algeria with a large collection of sketches, in which the ordinary defects of his manner were less apparent. He died suddenly of disease of the heart at Headingly, near Leeds, 23 Jan. 1888. His memory was shortly afterwards honoured by Mr. Swinburne in a funereal ode of surpassing beauty. Inchbold himself was a poet of considerable mark; the sonnets in his 'Annus Amoris’, 1877, are interesting tokens of a refined and poetical mind, though perhaps not one possesses the finish and concentration demanded by this most difficult form of composition.
List of works
- The Moorland (Dewar-stone, Dartmoor) (1854), Tate BritainTate BritainTate Britain is an art gallery situated on Millbank in London, and part of the Tate gallery network in Britain, with Tate Modern, Tate Liverpool and Tate St Ives. It is the oldest gallery in the network, opening in 1897. It houses a substantial collection of the works of J. M. W. Turner.-History:It...
, London. - Anstey's Cove, Devon (1854), Fitzwilliam MuseumFitzwilliam MuseumThe Fitzwilliam Museum is the art and antiquities museum of the University of Cambridge, located on Trumpington Street opposite Fitzwilliam Street in central Cambridge, England. It receives around 300,000 visitors annually. Admission is free....
, Cambridge. - Devonshire Coast (1855), Tate Britain, London.
- The White Doe of Rylstone (At Bolton) (1855), Leeds City Art Gallery.
- A Study, in March or In Early Spring (1855), Ashmolean MuseumAshmolean MuseumThe Ashmolean Museum on Beaumont Street, Oxford, England, is the world's first university museum...
, Oxford. - Cuillin Ridge, Skye, from Sligachan (1856), Ashmolean Museum, Oxford.
- Study from Nature, Evening (1857)
- Fishermen at Sunset (1859-60), Tate Britain, London.
- Tintagel (1861),Tate Britain, London.
- Lugano (a Pillar in the Foreground) 1861, Tate Britain, London.
- Two Men Scything 1861, Tate Britain, London.
- Tintagel 1861, Tate Britain, London.
- A Sunlit Wood 1861, Tate Britain, London.
- A Man Digging on the Shore 1862, Tate Britain, London.
- Venice: A Girl in a Doorway 1862-4, Tate Britain, London.
- Tintagel 1862, Tate Britain, London.
- Inundation at St Marks 1863-4, Tate Britain, London.
- San Giorgio from the Ducal Palace 1863-5, Tate Britain, London.
- Peat Burning circa 1864-6, Tate Britain, London.
- A Young Palm, Valentia 1865, Tate Britain, London.
- A House in Spain, with a Minaret 1865, Tate Britain, London.
- Shore Scene with Groups of Figures 1865, Tate Britain, London.
- Manzanares, Madrid 1866, Tate Britain, London.
- The Village Cross, Spain 1866, Tate Britain, London.
- Recollection. Barden Fells 1866, Tate Britain, London.
- Recollection, Strid, Barden Tower 1866, Tate Britain, London.
- Gate of the Sea, Venice (1873)
- Harvest Field, Stratford-Upon-Avon 1874, Leeds Art Gallery
- Gordale Scar, Yorkshire exhibited 1876, Tate Britain, London.
- The Lake of Geneva (c.1880-82)
- A Syrian Girl at a Balcony overlooking a Bay, Tate Britain, London.
- A Rocky Coast, Tate Britain, London.
- A Wide Landscape, Tate Britain, London.
- Arabian Merchants, Tate Britain, London.
- A Shepherd on the Downs, Tate Britain, London.
- A Girl Seated on Rocks in a Wood, Tate Britain, London.
- Forest of Fontainebleau: A Chestnut Tree, Tate Britain, London.
- Valencia. The Well, Tate Britain, London.
- Venice, Nocturne. San Giorgio Maggiore, Tate Britain, London.
- Fairy Dell. A Man and a Dog in a Sunlit Clearing, Tate Britain, London.
- A Procession of Peasants among Trees, Tate Britain, London.
- Forest of Fontainebleau: A Peasant outside a Church under Trees, Tate Britain, London.
- Forest of Fontainebleau: A Path in the Woods, Tate Britain, London.
- Whilst Waiting for the Train, Swiss Alps, Tate Britain, London.
- A Rocky Coast, Tate Britain, London.
- Coast Scene with Fishing Boats and Rainbows, Tate Britain, London.
- Mountain Vale, Tate Britain, London.
- The Lake of Lucerne, Victoria and Albert MuseumVictoria and Albert MuseumThe Victoria and Albert Museum , set in the Brompton district of The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London, England, is the world's largest museum of decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 4.5 million objects...
, London. - From Pallano to the Dent du Midi 1884, Private collection, exhib. Royal AcademyRoyal AcademyThe 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...
, London, 1885.
External links
- The Pre-Raph Pack Discover more about the artists, the techniques they used and a timeline spanning 100 years.
- The Royal Academy of Arts; a complete dictionary of contributors and their work from its foundation in 1769 to 1904 (1972).