Henry Calvert
{{otherpeople}}
{{Artist infobox
| birth_date = June 1798
| death_date = 1 September 1868 (aged 70)
| death_place = Southport, Lancashire, England
| birth_place = Darlton, Nottinghamshire, England
}}
{{Short description|British animal painter}}
Henry Calvert (1798–1868) was a British animal painter.
Early life
Calvert was born in Darlton, Nottinghamshire, in June 1798 to William Calvert and Esther Callingham.{{Cite web |title=Nottinghamshire, England, Church of England Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, 1538-1812 |url=https://www.ancestry.co.uk/sharing/7572056?mark=7b22746f6b656e223a224b4f5a682f39354a354242574b7a556574627443366674684c424933323063465057354e47676b61424d413d222c22746f6b656e5f76657273696f6e223a225632227d |access-date=2023-11-13 |website=Ancestry.com |language=en-US}}
Many sources from the late 19th century onwards claim that Calvert was a brother of Manchester artists Charles and Michael Pease Calvert.{{cite DNB |wstitle= Calvert, Charles (1785-1852) |volume= 08 |last= Axon |first= William Edward Armytage |author-link= William Axon |page=266 |short= 1}}{{Cite web |last=Genealogy |first=Chater |date=2021-01-01 |title=The Raphael's: In the Shadow of Mexborough |url=https://chater-genealogy.blogspot.com/search/label/St.%20Raphael's%20Church |access-date=2023-11-08 |website=Armenians in India - Behind the Scenes Forgotten History}}{{Cite book |last1=Highfill |first1=Philip H. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ohhz-ZXjfd4C&dq=%22henry+calvert%22+painter&pg=PA20 |title=A Biographical Dictionary of Actors, Actresses, Musicians, Dancers, Managers and Other Stage Personnel in London, 1660-1800: Cabanel to Cory |last2=Burnim |first2=Kalman A. |last3=Langhans |first3=Edward A. |date=1975 |publisher=SIU Press |isbn=978-0-8093-0692-3 |language=en}}{{Cite web |last=Carmel |title=Henry Calvert 1798-c.1869 for Thursday is Art Day – carmelrowley.com.au |url=https://carmelrowley.com.au/blog/?p=4952 |access-date=2023-11-13 |language=en-US}} However, they were unrelated—Henry Calvert was born more than nine months after the death of the Manchester Calverts' father, with different parents named on his birth record.{{Cite web |title=UK, Extracted Probate Records, 1269-1975 |url=https://www.ancestry.co.uk/sharing/7688250?mark=7b22746f6b656e223a222b4e49536b664569484f4645662b74756b796a4775336379474d5a436c7075366e43484f2f43652f5a74733d222c22746f6b656e5f76657273696f6e223a225632227d |access-date=2023-11-13 |website=Ancestry.com |language=en-US}} The error may have originated in John Howard Nodal's Art in Lancashire and Cheshire: a List of Deceased Artists (1884), the source used for Charles Calvert's entry in the Dictionary of National Biography. Henry Calvert and the other Calverts were of similar ages, and all were working and exhibiting in Manchester during the same period, but there is no mention of Henry as their sibling in sources discussing the Manchester Calverts during their respective lifetimes.{{Cite news |last=Thomas |first=Letherbrow |date=20 July 1878 |title=The Calverts |page=181 |work=The Manchester City News - Notes & Queries |url=https://archive.org/details/citynewsnotesan02newsgoog/page/n132/mode/2up}}
Career
Calvert moved to Manchester, where he became a professional artist specialising in oil paintings of animals, including livestock and hunts, across Lancashire, Cheshire, and northern Wales.{{Cite book |last=Mitchell |first=Sally |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oYfrAAAAMAAJ |title=The Dictionary of British Equestrian Artists |date=1985 |publisher=Antique Collectors' Club |isbn=978-0-907462-42-2 |language=en}}{{Cite book |last1=Moncrieff |first1=Elspeth |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SSk4AQAAIAAJ&q=calvert |title=Farm Animal Portraits |last2=Joseph |first2=Stephen |last3=Joseph |first3=Iona |date=1996 |publisher=Antique Collectors' Club |isbn=978-1-85149-239-8 |language=en}}
His most notable painting was The Cheshire Hunt (1840), a large canvas depicting more than 40 different people—all of whom sat for Calvert—preparing for a hunt near Beeston Castle, which took him a year to paint and was exhibited in Manchester, Liverpool, and London; mezzotint prints were produced and sold by Thomas Agnew & Sons.{{Cite news |date=25 April 1840 |title=Picture of the Cheshire Hunt |page=5 |work=Manchester Courier |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000206/18400425/023/0005 |access-date=13 November 2023}}{{Cite news |date=1 April 1840 |title=The Cheshire Hunt |page=1 |work=Morning Herald (London) |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/BL/0002408/18400401/136/0001?browse=true |access-date=13 November 2023}}{{Cite news |date=10 March 1840 |title=The Cheshire Hunt |page=5 |work=Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0002088/18400310/058/0005 |access-date=13 November 2023}}{{Cite news |date=18 April 1840 |title=The Cheshire Hunt |page=14 |work=Atlas |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0002115/18400418/052/0014 |access-date=13 November 2023}}{{Cite news |date=14 May 1842 |title=The Cheshire Hunt |page=5 |work=Manchester Courier |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000206/18420514/020/0005 |access-date=13 November 2023}} It now hangs in the entrance of Tatton Hall in Cheshire, the former home of the noble Egerton family, some of whom were included in the painting.{{Cite book |url=http://archive.org/details/tattonparkmansio0000unse |url-access=registration |title=Tatton Park, the mansion |date=2001 |publisher=Cheshire County Council |location=Tatton Park, Knutsford |isbn=978-0-904532-42-5 |page=17}}{{Cite book |last=Morris |first=Edward |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Sks583w0MXkC&dq=calvert&pg=PA75 |title=Public Art Collections in North-west England: A History and Guide |date=2001-01-01 |publisher=Liverpool University Press |isbn=978-0-85323-527-9 |language=en}} The Vine Hunt Meeting (1843) and The Wynnstay Hunt (1855) are other notable hunt paintings by Calvert.{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QEXrAAAAMAAJ&q=%22henry+calvert%22+painter |title=The Connoisseur |date=1952 |publisher=Hearst Corporation |language=en}}
He exhibited regularly at the Royal Manchester Institution; when he exhibited two dog paintings, Dandie Dinmont Family and Varmint, in 1848, the Manchester Courier described him as the third-best canine painter in the country (with Edwin Landseer in first place).{{Cite news |date=15 July 1848 |title=Royal Manchester Institution - Exhibition of 1848 |page=3 |work=Manchester Courier |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000206/18480715/009/0003 |access-date=13 November 2023}}
He was the founding treasurer of the Manchester Academy of Fine Arts in 1859.{{Cite book |last1=Buckingham |first1=James Silk |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0aBAAQAAMAAJ&dq=%22henry+calvert%22+painter&pg=PA159 |title=Athenaeum: London Literary and Critical Journal |last2=Sterling |first2=John |last3=Maurice |first3=Frederick Denison |last4=Stebbing |first4=Henry |last5=Dilke |first5=Charles Wentworth |last6=Hervey |first6=Thomas Kibble |last7=Dixon |first7=William Hepworth |last8=Maccoll |first8=Norman |last9=Rendall |first9=Vernon Horace |date=1861 |publisher=J. Francis |language=en}} Joshua Maiden, a brother of Joseph Maiden, was his pupil.{{Cite book |last=Child |first=Dennis |url=http://archive.org/details/paintersinnorthe0000chil |title=Painters in the northern counties of England and Wales |date=2002 |publisher=Leeds : Dennis Child |others=Internet Archive |isbn=978-0-9523247-1-3}}
Death
He died in Southport on 1 September 1868, aged 70, and was buried in Sale, Manchester alongside his wife Mary.{{Cite web |title=England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1858-1995 |url=https://www.ancestry.co.uk/sharing/7687300?mark=7b22746f6b656e223a22456578466d424b3348334231397163356961376b3454566a364f64497a51394730354d30375066365855453d222c22746f6b656e5f76657273696f6e223a225632227d |access-date=2023-11-13 |website=Ancestry.com |language=en-US}}
In 1971, an exhibition of equestrian paintings was held at the Adelphi Hotel in Liverpool to coincide with the Grand National at nearby Aintree, and it included paintings by Calvert; the curators believed him to be "a first-class painter, only overlooked because so many other artists of his time were also painting horses," and deserving of rediscovery.{{Cite news |date=26 March 1971 |title=Horses and courses |page=8 |work=Liverpool Daily Post |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0005475/19710326/008/0008 |access-date=13 November 2023}}
The Dictionary of British Equestrian Artists (1985) describes him as "a comparatively little known and underestimated artist whose ability deserves greater recognition. His work is of a high standard, his horses well drawn, his composition good and his detail of items such as saddlery is accurate; as well as painting horses and sporting scenes he painted a variety of other animals including cattle portraits, and a few landscapes. Although he would seem to have led a fairly active artistic life his work is now fairly rare."
References
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