William Quiller Orchardson
Encyclopedia
Sir William Quiller Orchardson (27 March 1832—13 April 1910) was a noted Scottish
portraitist and painter of domestic and historical subjects who was knighted in June 1907, at the age of 75.
, where his father was engaged in business. "Orchardson" is a variation of "Urquhartson," the name of a Highland sept settled on Loch Ness
, from which the painter is descended.
At the age of fifteen, Orchardson was sent to Edinburgh's renowned art school, the Trustees' Academy
, then under the mastership of Robert Scott Lauder
, where he had as fellow-students most of those who afterwards shed lustre on the Scottish school of the second half of the 19th century. As a student, he was not especially precocious or industrious, but his work was distinguished by a peculiar reserve and an unusual determination that his hand should be subdued to his eye, with the result that his early works reach their own ideal as surely as those of his maturity.
By the time he was twenty, Orchardson had mastered the essentials of his art, and had produced at least one picture which might be accepted as representative, a portrait of sculptor John Hutchison. For the seven subsequent years he worked in Edinburgh, some of his attention being given to a "black and white" style, his practice in which having been partly acquired at a sketch club, which, in addition to Hutchison, included among its members Hugh Cameron, Peter Graham, George Hay and William McTaggart
.
, and established himself at 37 Fitzroy Square
, where be was joined twelve months later by his friend John Pettie
. The same house was afterwards inhabited by Ford Madox Brown
. The English public was not immediately attracted to Orchardson's work. It was too quiet to compel attention at the Royal Academy
, and Pettie, his junior by four years, stepped before him for a time and became the most readily accepted member of the school. Orchardson confined himself to the simplest themes and designs, to the most reticent schemes of colour. Among his most highly regarded pictures during the first eighteen years after his move to London were "The Challenge", "Christopher Sly", "Queen of the Swords", "Conditional Neutrality", "Hard Hit" - perhaps the best of all - and, within his own family, portraits of his wife and her father, Charles Moxon. In all these, good judgment and a refined imagination were united to a restrained but consummate technical dexterity. During these same years he made a few drawings on wood, turning to account his early facility in this mode.
. In 1865 Pettie married, and the Fitzroy Square ménage was broken up. In 1868 Orchardson was elected A.R.A. (Associate of the Royal Academy). In 1870 he spent the summer in Venice
, travelling home in the early autumn through a France
overrun by the German
armies. His marriage to Helen Moxon occurred on April 6, 1873, and in 1877 he was elected to the full membership of the Royal Academy. In this same year he finished building Ivyside, a house at Westgate-on-Sea
with an open tennis-court and a studio in the garden. William Quiller Orchardson died in London two-and-a-half weeks after his 78th birthday, having been knight
ed less than three years previously.
There is a memorial which mentions William Quiller Orchardson within Margate Cemetery, Kent UK. Sadly now fallen over, the inscription reads:
In memory of William Quiller Orchardson (Knight) R.A., H.R.S.A, D.C.L, and Officer of the Legion of Honour. Born March 27, 1833, died April 13, 1920.
Ellen Orchardson his wife born May 5, 1853, died May 13, 1917.
Capt. Charles Moxon Quiller Orchardson born December 24, 1873, died of wounds in Egypt April 26, 1917.
Celeste Orchardson born December 24, 1876, died August 30, 1877.
. Its success with the public was great and instantaneous, and for a decade or more, Orchardson's work was more eagerly looked for at the Academy than that of anyone else. He followed up the "Bellerophon" with the still finer "Voltaire". Technically, the "Voltaire" is, perhaps, his high-water mark. Fine both in design and colour, it is carried out with a supple dexterity of hand which has scarcely been equalled in the British school since the death of Gainsborough
. The subject
does not appear happy, for it does not explain itself, but requires a previous knowledge on the part of the spectator of how Voltaire was beaten by the servants of the Chevalier de Rohan-Chabot, and how the duc de Sully failed to avenge his guest. The painter was attracted by the opportunity it gave for effective opposition of character, line, colour and movement.
The "Voltaire" was at the Academy of 1883; it was followed, in 1884, by the "Marriage de convenance", perhaps the most popular of all Orchardson's pictures; in 1885, by "The Salon of Madame Récamier"; in 1886, by "After", the sequel to the "Marriage de convenance", and "A Tender Chord", one of his most exquisite productions; in 1887, by "The First Cloud"; in 1888, by "Her Mother's Voice"; and in 1889, by "The Young Duke", a canvas on which he returned to much the same pictorial scheme as that of the "Voltaire". Subsequently he exhibited a series of pictures in which fine pictorial use was made of the furniture and costumes of the early years of the 19th century, the subjects, as a rule, being only just enough to suggest a title.
"An Enigma", "A Social Eddy", "Reflections", "If music be the food of love, play on!", "Music, when sweet voices die, vibrates on the memory", "Her First Dance", - in these, opportunities are made to introduce old harpsichord
s, spinet
s, early pianofortes, Empire
chairs, sofas and tables, Aubusson
carpets, short-waisted gowns, delicate in material and primitive in ornament. Between such things and Orchardson's methods as a painter, the sympathy is close, so that the best among them, "A Tender Chord", for instance, or "Music, when sweet voices die", have a rare distinction.
As a portrait-painter Orchardson must be placed in the first class. His portraits are not numerous, but among them are a few which rise to the highest level reached by modern art. "Master Baby", a picture, connecting subject-painting with portraiture, is a masterpiece of design, colour and broad execution.
"Mrs Joseph", "Mrs Ralli", "Sir Andrew Walker, Bart.", "Charles Moxon, Esq.", "Mrs Orchardson", "Conditional Neutrality" (a portrait of Orchardson's eldest son as a boy of six), "Lord Rookwood", "The Provost of Aberdeen" and, above all, "Sir Walter Gilbey, Bart." would all deserve a place on any list of the best portraits of the 19th century. In this branch of art, the "Sir Walter Gilbey" may fairly be called the painter's masterpiece, although the sumptuous full-length of the Scottish provost
, in his robes, runs it closely. The scheme of colour is reticent; had the picture been exhibited at the time of the Second Boer War
of 1900, the colour would have been called khaki; the design is simple, uniting nature to art with a rare felicity, with the likeness being found satisfactory by the sitter's friends.
The most important commission. ever received by Orchardson as a portrait-painter was that for the Royal group of Queen Victoria
with her son (afterwards King Edward VII
), grandson and great-grandson, to be painted on one canvas for the Royal Agricultural Society
. The painter hit upon a happy notion for the bringing of the four figures together, and as time went on and the picture slowly turned into history, its merit was likely to be better appreciated. He continued painting to the end of his life, and had three portraits ready for the Royal Academy in the final year of his life, 1910.
and Gainsborough
, rather than with those who would base all pictorial art on a keen eye for actuality and "value". Among French
painters, his pictures have excited particular admiration.
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
portraitist and painter of domestic and historical subjects who was knighted in June 1907, at the age of 75.
Early years
Orchardson was born in EdinburghEdinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...
, where his father was engaged in business. "Orchardson" is a variation of "Urquhartson," the name of a Highland sept settled on Loch Ness
Loch Ness
Loch Ness is a large, deep, freshwater loch in the Scottish Highlands extending for approximately southwest of Inverness. Its surface is above sea level. Loch Ness is best known for the alleged sightings of the cryptozoological Loch Ness Monster, also known affectionately as "Nessie"...
, from which the painter is descended.
At the age of fifteen, Orchardson was sent to Edinburgh's renowned art school, the Trustees' Academy
Edinburgh College of Art
Edinburgh College of Art is an art school in Edinburgh, Scotland, providing tertiary education in art and design disciplines for over two thousand students....
, then under the mastership of Robert Scott Lauder
Robert Scott Lauder
Robert Scott Lauder was a Scottish mid-Victorian artist who described himself as a "historical painter". He was one of the original members of the Royal Scottish Academy.-Life and work:...
, where he had as fellow-students most of those who afterwards shed lustre on the Scottish school of the second half of the 19th century. As a student, he was not especially precocious or industrious, but his work was distinguished by a peculiar reserve and an unusual determination that his hand should be subdued to his eye, with the result that his early works reach their own ideal as surely as those of his maturity.
By the time he was twenty, Orchardson had mastered the essentials of his art, and had produced at least one picture which might be accepted as representative, a portrait of sculptor John Hutchison. For the seven subsequent years he worked in Edinburgh, some of his attention being given to a "black and white" style, his practice in which having been partly acquired at a sketch club, which, in addition to Hutchison, included among its members Hugh Cameron, Peter Graham, George Hay and William McTaggart
William McTaggart
William McTaggart was a Scottish landscape painter who was influenced by Impressionism.-Life and work:...
.
The years in London
In 1862, at the age of thirty, Orchardson moved to LondonLondon
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, and established himself at 37 Fitzroy Square
Fitzroy Square
Fitzroy Square is one of the Georgian squares in London and is the only one found in the central London area known as in Fitzrovia.The square, nearby Fitzroy Street and the Fitzroy Tavern in Charlotte Street have the family name of Charles FitzRoy, 2nd Duke of Grafton, into whose ownership the land...
, where be was joined twelve months later by his friend John Pettie
John Pettie
John Pettie RA was a Scottish painter. He was born in Edinburgh, the son of Alexander and Alison Pettie. In 1852 the family moved to East Linton, Haddingtonshire...
. The same house was afterwards inhabited by Ford Madox Brown
Ford Madox Brown
Ford Madox Brown was an English painter of moral and historical subjects, notable for his distinctively graphic and often Hogarthian version of the Pre-Raphaelite style. Arguably, his most notable painting was Work...
. The English public was not immediately attracted to Orchardson's work. It was too quiet to compel attention 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...
, and Pettie, his junior by four years, stepped before him for a time and became the most readily accepted member of the school. Orchardson confined himself to the simplest themes and designs, to the most reticent schemes of colour. Among his most highly regarded pictures during the first eighteen years after his move to London were "The Challenge", "Christopher Sly", "Queen of the Swords", "Conditional Neutrality", "Hard Hit" - perhaps the best of all - and, within his own family, portraits of his wife and her father, Charles Moxon. In all these, good judgment and a refined imagination were united to a restrained but consummate technical dexterity. During these same years he made a few drawings on wood, turning to account his early facility in this mode.
Later life
The period between 1862 and 1880 was one of quiet ambitions, of a characteristic insouciance, of life accepted as a thing of many-balanced interests rather than as a matter of sturm und drangSturm und Drang
Sturm und Drang is a proto-Romantic movement in German literature and music taking place from the late 1760s through the early 1780s, in which individual subjectivity and, in particular, extremes of emotion were given free expression in reaction to the perceived constraints of rationalism...
. In 1865 Pettie married, and the Fitzroy Square ménage was broken up. In 1868 Orchardson was elected A.R.A. (Associate of the Royal Academy). In 1870 he spent the summer in Venice
Venice
Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...
, travelling home in the early autumn through a France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
overrun by the German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
armies. His marriage to Helen Moxon occurred on April 6, 1873, and in 1877 he was elected to the full membership of the Royal Academy. In this same year he finished building Ivyside, a house at Westgate-on-Sea
Westgate-on-Sea
Westgate-on-Sea is a seaside town in northeast Kent, England, with a population of 6,600. It is within the Thanet local government district and borders the larger seaside resort of Margate...
with an open tennis-court and a studio in the garden. William Quiller Orchardson died in London two-and-a-half weeks after his 78th birthday, having been knight
Knight
A knight was a member of a class of lower nobility in the High Middle Ages.By the Late Middle Ages, the rank had become associated with the ideals of chivalry, a code of conduct for the perfect courtly Christian warrior....
ed less than three years previously.
There is a memorial which mentions William Quiller Orchardson within Margate Cemetery, Kent UK. Sadly now fallen over, the inscription reads:
In memory of William Quiller Orchardson (Knight) R.A., H.R.S.A, D.C.L, and Officer of the Legion of Honour. Born March 27, 1833, died April 13, 1920.
Ellen Orchardson his wife born May 5, 1853, died May 13, 1917.
Capt. Charles Moxon Quiller Orchardson born December 24, 1873, died of wounds in Egypt April 26, 1917.
Celeste Orchardson born December 24, 1876, died August 30, 1877.
Legacy
Orchardson's wider popularity dates from 1881. To that year's Academy he sent the large "Napoleon on Board the Bellerophon", which, for nearly a century, has been in the Tate GalleryTate Gallery
The Tate is an institution that houses the United Kingdom's national collection of British Art, and International Modern and Contemporary Art...
. Its success with the public was great and instantaneous, and for a decade or more, Orchardson's work was more eagerly looked for at the Academy than that of anyone else. He followed up the "Bellerophon" with the still finer "Voltaire". Technically, the "Voltaire" is, perhaps, his high-water mark. Fine both in design and colour, it is carried out with a supple dexterity of hand which has scarcely been equalled in the British school since the death of Gainsborough
Thomas Gainsborough
Thomas Gainsborough was an English portrait and landscape painter.-Suffolk:Thomas Gainsborough was born in Sudbury, Suffolk. He was the youngest son of John Gainsborough, a weaver and maker of woolen goods. At the age of thirteen he impressed his father with his penciling skills so that he let...
. The subject
Voltaire
François-Marie Arouet , better known by the pen name Voltaire , was a French Enlightenment writer, historian and philosopher famous for his wit and for his advocacy of civil liberties, including freedom of religion, free trade and separation of church and state...
does not appear happy, for it does not explain itself, but requires a previous knowledge on the part of the spectator of how Voltaire was beaten by the servants of the Chevalier de Rohan-Chabot, and how the duc de Sully failed to avenge his guest. The painter was attracted by the opportunity it gave for effective opposition of character, line, colour and movement.
The "Voltaire" was at the Academy of 1883; it was followed, in 1884, by the "Marriage de convenance", perhaps the most popular of all Orchardson's pictures; in 1885, by "The Salon of Madame Récamier"; in 1886, by "After", the sequel to the "Marriage de convenance", and "A Tender Chord", one of his most exquisite productions; in 1887, by "The First Cloud"; in 1888, by "Her Mother's Voice"; and in 1889, by "The Young Duke", a canvas on which he returned to much the same pictorial scheme as that of the "Voltaire". Subsequently he exhibited a series of pictures in which fine pictorial use was made of the furniture and costumes of the early years of the 19th century, the subjects, as a rule, being only just enough to suggest a title.
"An Enigma", "A Social Eddy", "Reflections", "If music be the food of love, play on!", "Music, when sweet voices die, vibrates on the memory", "Her First Dance", - in these, opportunities are made to introduce old harpsichord
Harpsichord
A harpsichord is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It produces sound by plucking a string when a key is pressed.In the narrow sense, "harpsichord" designates only the large wing-shaped instruments in which the strings are perpendicular to the keyboard...
s, spinet
Spinet
A spinet is a smaller type of harpsichord or other keyboard instrument, such as a piano or organ.-Spinets as harpsichords:While the term spinet is used to designate a harpsichord, typically what is meant is the bentside spinet, described in this section...
s, early pianofortes, Empire
Empire (style)
The Empire style, , sometimes considered the second phase of Neoclassicism, is an early-19th-century design movement in architecture, furniture, other decorative arts, and the visual arts followed in Europe and America until around 1830, although in the U. S. it continued in popularity in...
chairs, sofas and tables, Aubusson
Aubusson, Creuse
Aubusson is a commune in the Creuse department in the Limousin region in central France.-Geography:...
carpets, short-waisted gowns, delicate in material and primitive in ornament. Between such things and Orchardson's methods as a painter, the sympathy is close, so that the best among them, "A Tender Chord", for instance, or "Music, when sweet voices die", have a rare distinction.
As a portrait-painter Orchardson must be placed in the first class. His portraits are not numerous, but among them are a few which rise to the highest level reached by modern art. "Master Baby", a picture, connecting subject-painting with portraiture, is a masterpiece of design, colour and broad execution.
"Mrs Joseph", "Mrs Ralli", "Sir Andrew Walker, Bart.", "Charles Moxon, Esq.", "Mrs Orchardson", "Conditional Neutrality" (a portrait of Orchardson's eldest son as a boy of six), "Lord Rookwood", "The Provost of Aberdeen" and, above all, "Sir Walter Gilbey, Bart." would all deserve a place on any list of the best portraits of the 19th century. In this branch of art, the "Sir Walter Gilbey" may fairly be called the painter's masterpiece, although the sumptuous full-length of the Scottish provost
Lord Provost
A Lord Provost is the figurative and ceremonial head of one of the principal cities of Scotland. Four cities, Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh and Glasgow, have the right to appoint a Lord Provost instead of a provost...
, in his robes, runs it closely. The scheme of colour is reticent; had the picture been exhibited at the time of the Second Boer War
Second Boer War
The Second Boer War was fought from 11 October 1899 until 31 May 1902 between the British Empire and the Afrikaans-speaking Dutch settlers of two independent Boer republics, the South African Republic and the Orange Free State...
of 1900, the colour would have been called khaki; the design is simple, uniting nature to art with a rare felicity, with the likeness being found satisfactory by the sitter's friends.
The most important commission. ever received by Orchardson as a portrait-painter was that for the Royal group of Queen Victoria
Victoria of the United Kingdom
Victoria was the monarch of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death. From 1 May 1876, she used the additional title of Empress of India....
with her son (afterwards King Edward VII
Edward VII of the United Kingdom
Edward VII was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions and Emperor of India from 22 January 1901 until his death in 1910...
), grandson and great-grandson, to be painted on one canvas for the Royal Agricultural Society
Royal Agricultural Society
The Royal Agricultural Society of England was established in the United Kingdom in 1838 with the motto "Practice with Science". The RASE aim is to promote the scientific development of agriculture. The society received its Royal Charter from Queen Victoria in 1840.From its early days the society...
. The painter hit upon a happy notion for the bringing of the four figures together, and as time went on and the picture slowly turned into history, its merit was likely to be better appreciated. He continued painting to the end of his life, and had three portraits ready for the Royal Academy in the final year of his life, 1910.
Artistic method
Orchardson's method was that of one who worked under a creative, decorative and subjective impulse, rather than under one derived from a wish to observe and record. His affiliation is with WatteauAntoine Watteau
Jean-Antoine Watteau was a French painter whose brief career spurred the revival of interest in colour and movement...
and Gainsborough
Thomas Gainsborough
Thomas Gainsborough was an English portrait and landscape painter.-Suffolk:Thomas Gainsborough was born in Sudbury, Suffolk. He was the youngest son of John Gainsborough, a weaver and maker of woolen goods. At the age of thirteen he impressed his father with his penciling skills so that he let...
, rather than with those who would base all pictorial art on a keen eye for actuality and "value". Among French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
painters, his pictures have excited particular admiration.