George Scharf
{{Short description|British artist (1820–1895)}}
{{for|his father, the painter, draughtsman and lithographer|George Johann Scharf}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2015}}
{{Use British English|date=August 2015}}
{{Infobox person
| honorific_prefix = Sir
| name = George Scharf
| honorific_suffix = {{postnom|country=GBR|size=100%|KCB}}
| image = Sir George Scharf by Walter William Ouless.jpg
| image_size =
| caption = Sir George Scharf, 1885, oil by Walter William Ouless
| birth_date = 16 December 1820
| birth_place = London, England
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1895|4|19|1820|12|16|df=y}}
| death_place = London, England
| other_names =
| known_for =
| occupation = Illustrator, art critic, lecturer, and President of the National Portrait Gallery.
| nationality = British
}}
Sir George Scharf KCB (16 December 1820 – 19 April 1895) was a British art critic, illustrator, and director of the National Portrait Gallery.
Biography
=Early years=
Scharf was born at 3 St Martin's Lane, London, the son of George Johann Scharf, a Bavarian miniature painter, and older brother to Henry Scharf, actor and illustrator. He was educated at University College School, and after studying under his father and obtaining medals from the Society of Arts, entered the schools of the Royal Academy in 1838.{{cite DNB|wstitle=Scharf, George (1820-1895)|volume=50}}
=Travels =
In 1840 Charles Fellows engaged Scharf to join him on his second journey to Asia Minor and on the way spent some time in Italy. Three years later he again visited Asia Minor in the capacity of draughtsman. He made drawings of views and antiquities from Lycia, Caria, and Lydia, which are now in British Museum. A selection of these illustrations with text by Fellows was published in 1847.
=Career=
After his return to England, Scharf exhibited his paintings of the tombs in Myra and Xanthos at the Royal Academy in 1845 and 1846.{{Cite book |last=Graves |first=Algernon |url=http://archive.org/details/royalacademyofar07grav |title=The Royal Academy of Arts; a complete dictionary of contributors and their work from its foundation in 1769 to 1904 |date=1905 |publisher=London : H. Graves and co., ltd. [etc.] |others=University of California Libraries}} He also illustrated books relating to art and antiquity, of which the best known are Macaulay's Lays of Ancient Rome (1847); Milman's Horace, (1849); Kugler's Handbook of Italian Painting (1851); and Dr Smith's classical dictionaries.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}} In addition, he produced thirty-seven illustrations for the 1845 illuminated Book of Common Prayer designed by Owen Jones.
He also engaged largely in lecturing and teaching, and took part in the formation of the Greek, Roman and Pompeian courts at the Crystal Palace. He acted as art secretary to the great Manchester Art Treasures Exhibition of 1857, and in that year was appointed secretary and director to the newly founded National Portrait Gallery. The remainder of his life was given to the care of that institution.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}}
Scharf acquired an unrivalled knowledge of all matters relating to historic portraiture, and was the author of many learned essays on the subject. In 1885, in recognition of his services to the Portrait Gallery, he was made CB, and on his resignation, early in 1895, KCB and a trustee of the Gallery.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}} He died at his home 8 Ashley Place, London in April 1895 after a long illness.New York Times Obituary https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1895/04/20/102455402.pdf
Paintings and illustrations
- [http://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/person.php?search=ss&firstRun=true&sText=george+scharf&LinkID=mp03993 National Portrait Gallery, Images by George Scharf]
- [http://www.vam.ac.uk/vastatic/wid/exhibits/christmas/case3item1.html Illustrated letter from George Scharf to Mrs. Stovin, 31 December 1854]
Bibliography
- [https://books.google.com/books?id=RwYoAAAAYAAJ&q=sir+george+scharf On the Principal Portraits of Shakespeare, By Sir George Scharf, 1864]
- [https://books.google.com/books?id=I4ADAAAAYAAJ&q=sir+george+scharf A catalogue of the pictures belonging to the Society of antiquaries ... By Sir George Scharf, Society of Antiquaries of London, 1865]
- [https://books.google.com/books?id=iJkZAAAAYAAJ&q=sir+george+scharf Historical and descriptive catalogue of the pictures, busts, &c., in the ... By Sir George Scharf, National Portrait Gallery (Great Britain), 1884]
- [https://books.google.com/books?id=C3LH6ny3874C&dq=sir+george+scharf&pg=PA218 Historical and Descriptive Catalogue of the National Portrait Gallery, Compiled by Sir GEORGE SCHARF revised by LIONEL CUST, London 1896]
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20060924170309/http://www.crl.edu/ReferenceFolders/Scharf.pdf Sir George Scharf Notebooks, Artist and Director of the National Portrait Gallery, 1820-1895]
Images of George Scharf
- [http://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portrait.php?search=ap&npgno=Ax29987 Photograph by Nadar (Gaspard Félix Tournachon)1867]
- [http://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/largerimage.php?LinkID=mp03993&page=1&rNo=4&role=sit Self portrait, 1872]
References
{{Commons category}}
{{reflist}}
- {{EB1911|wstitle=Scharf, Sir George|volume=24|page=313}}
External links
- {{Internet Archive author |sname=George Scharf}}
{{National Portrait Gallery directors}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Scharf, George}}
Category:Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath
Category:Directors of the National Portrait Gallery, London