William Powell Frith paintings, painter, Victorian painting

William Powell Frith

William Powell Frith Biography

English painter
born 1819 - died 1909

Teacher of: Frederick Tayler (1802-1889).
Member of: The Clique

WILLIAM POWELL FRITH was born in Yorkshire, where his father a self-made man had become a prosperous innkeeper in Harrogate. He had two brothers and a sister. Once established in London the young painter attended Sass's Academy, where William Powell Frith was rigorously trained in the basic techniques of panting. He later attended the Royal Academy Schools.

Early William Powell Frith paintings were mainly historical genre. He became part of a group of slightly younger artists who called themselves 'The Clique.' Fellow members of this group were Richard Dad, the fairy painter who later became insane and killed his own father, Augustus Egg, H.N. O'Neil, and John Phillip.

William Powell Frith worked diligently, and success came early. He became ARA in 1845, and a full Academician in 1852. In 1851 the painter visited Ramsgate, the result of this being the first of his famous large scale crowd scenes Ramsgate Sands, which after over three years work was exhibited at the RA in 1854, and bought by Queen Victoria-Frith was a successful artist overnight. William Powell Frith received a large sum for the painting, but failed to keep all the rights to income from it, such as the sale of engravings. This was an error that the commercially astute painter did not repeat. William Powell Frith continued in this vein with Derby Day, 1858, The Railway Station, 1862, and Private View at The RA, of 1883. These William Powell Frith paintings form a valuable record of life in Victorian England, and must have been the result of a stupendous amount of painting. William Powell Frith seems to have been drawn towards crowds in his private as well as his artistic life. He lived in Bayswater, with his wife Isabelle, with whom, unfortunate woman, he had twelve children.

In 1863, William Powell Frith was informed by Sir Charles Eastlake, President of the Royal Academy, that the Queen wished him to paint a picture of the forthcoming wedding ceremony of her son the Prince of Wales and Princess Alexandra of Denmark. William Powell Frith duly painted the painting for a fee of three thousand pounds, and it involved more than a year's concentrated painting. he had felt compelled to undertake this commission and actually charged the Queen less than William Powell Frith would have charged another patron. Logistically the execution of painting of the picture was a nightmare, as members of the Royal Family had problems attending their sittings due to their heavy commitments. Many of the other aristocratic sitters had the same problems in attending, caused in large part by their arrogance and stupidity. It is a pleasure note that William Powell Frith was quite capable of repaying their arrogance with like behavior, by the simple expedient of telling them that he would have to inform the Queen of their failure to attend.

List of Famous William Powell Frith Paintings

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