Henry William Pickersgill
{{Short description|English painter (1782–1875)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2019}}
{{Infobox artist
| name = Henry William Pickersgill
| image = Henry William Pickersgill 1860s.jpg
| image_size =
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| caption = William Pickersgill in the 1860s
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| birth_date = 3 December 1782
| birth_place = London, England
| death_date = 21 April 1875 (aged 92)
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| nationality = English
| education = École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts, Paris
| alma_mater =
| known_for = Painter of portraits
| notable_works =
| style =
| movement = Orientalist
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Henry William Pickersgill RA (3 December 1782 – 21 April 1875) was an English painter specialising in portraits. He was a Royal Academician for almost fifty years, and painted many of the most notable figures of his time.
Biography
Born in London, Pickersgill was adopted in his youth by a Mr Hall, a silk manufacturer in Spitalfields,{{cite web |url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=50169 |title=The Wood-Michell estate: Hanbury Street west of Brick Lane |author=F. H. W. Sheppard |publisher=Institute of Historical Research |year=1957 |work=Survey of London: volume 27: Spitalfields and Mile End New Town |accessdate=13 August 2013}} who financed his schooling and then took him into the family business. When war caused difficult trading conditions, Pickersgill opted to develop his talent for painting into a career, and was a pupil of landscape artist George Arnald between 1802 and 1805 before entering the Royal Academy Schools as a student in November 1805.{{cite DNB|wstitle=Pickersgill, Henry William|volume=45}}{{cite web|url=http://www.racollection.org.uk/ixbin/indexplus?_IXACTION_=file&_IXFILE_=templates/full/person.html&person=5842|title=Royal Academy of Arts – Henry William Pickersgill, RA|accessdate=2009-01-28}}
File:Henry William Pickersgill 001.jpg
His early subjects were varied and included landscapes and classical and historical themes, but he eventually settled to portraiture as his speciality. His first exhibit at the Royal Academy was a portrait of his benefactor Mr Hall, and during his lifetime he showed a total of 384 paintings there. He was elected to associate membership of the Academy in November 1822 and full membership in February 1826.
Pickersgill was one of the pre-eminent portrait painters of his day. Robert Peel, William Wordsworth, George Stephenson, Jeremy Bentham, Letitia Elizabeth Landon, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Lord Nelson, the Duke of Wellington and Faraday were among the many notable people who sat for him. He famously painted author James Silk Buckingham and his wife Elizabeth in Arab costume in 1816, reflecting Buckingham's own travels in the East as well as the fashion of the times for the Orient. The National Portrait Gallery, London has over 50 of his portraits in its collection, including 16 original oils and 35 engravings after him,{{cite web|url=http://www.npg.org.uk/live/search/person.asp?LinkID=mp03560&role=art|title=Portraits by Henry William Pickersgill at the National Portrait gallery, London|accessdate=2008-09-30}} along with a small number of portraits of Pickersgill himself by others.{{cite web|url=http://www.npg.org.uk/live/search/person.asp?LinkID=mp03560&role=sit|title=Portraits of Pickersgill at the National Portrait Gallery in London|accessdate=2008-09-30}}
From 1856 to 1864, he was librarian of the Royal Academy. He retired from the institution in December 1872, and died at his home in Blandford Square, London,{{cite news|url=http://www.iln.org.uk/iln_years/year/1875.htm|title=Wills and Bequests|date=5 June 1875|work=Illustrated London News|accessdate=2009-01-28}} at the age of 93. He is buried in Barnes Cemetery.
Pickersgill's brother Richard, son Henry Hall and nephew Frederick Richard were also painters. His wife Jeanette published a volume of poetry in 1827 entitled Tales of the Harem.{{cite web|url=http://www.racollection.org.uk/ixbin/indexplus?record=ART131|title=Object of the Month: Henry William Pickersgill RA (1782–1875), The Oriental Love Letter|date=July 2008|publisher=Royal Academy website|accessdate=2009-01-29}} After her death in 1885, Mrs Pickersgill became the first person to be legally cremated in the United Kingdom at Woking Crematorium.{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/7963119.stm|title=How cremation became the way to go |date=2009-03-25|work=BBC News Online|accessdate=2009-03-25}}
In his will Pickersgill left a bequest to the Royal National Lifeboat Institution. The lifeboat Henry William Pickersgill R.A., which served on the Dover station between 1878 and 1888, was funded by this bequest.{{cite web|url=http://www.dover-lifeboat.org.uk/index.html |title=Previous Dover Lifeboats |publisher=Dover Lifeboat website |accessdate=2008-09-30 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070324042214/http://www.dover-lifeboat.org.uk/index.html |archivedate=March 24, 2007 }}
{{wikisource|The Troubadour; Catalogue of Pictures, and Historical Sketches/The Oriental Nosegay|The Oriental Nosegay by Pickersgill,
a poem by L. E. L.}}
Letitia Elizabeth Landon's poem The Oriental Nosegay by Pickersgill in her Poetical Sketches of Modern Pictures (in The Troubadour, 1826) probably refers to his Oriental Love Letter (1824) in the R. A. collection.{{cite book|last =Landon|first=Letitia Elizabeth|title=The Troubadour, 1825|year=1827 |url=https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=R6tYAAAAcAAJ&pg=GBS.PA272|page=273|section=The Oriental Nosegay|publisher=Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown and Green}}
Gallery
File:Rear-Admiral Alexander John Ball (1757-1809), by Henry William Pickersgill.jpg|Alexander Ball, c. 1806
File:Matthew Gregory Lewis by Henry William Pickersgill.jpg|Matthew Gregory Lewis, 1809
File:Daniel Terry.jpg|Daniel Terry, 1813
File:George Crabbe by Henry William Pickersgill.jpg|George Crabbe, 1818
File:HannahMore.jpg|Hannah More, 1821
File:Henry William Pickersgill (1782-1875) - General Sir George Murray (1772–1846), Soldier and Statesman - PG 639 - National Galleries of Scotland.jpg|George Murray, 1825
File:Henry William Pickersgill (1782-1875) - Sir Jacob Astley (1797–1859), 6th Bt, Later 16th Baron Hastings, as a Young Man, in Masquerade Dress - 1276700 - National Trust.jpg|Sir Jacoby Astley, 1826
File:Georgiana Carolina Dashwood (1796–1835), Lady Hastings.jpg|Lady Astley, 1826
File:Michael Faraday (1791-1867).jpg|Michael Faraday, 1826
File:John Poole.jpg|John Poole, 1827
File:Jeremy Bentham by Henry William Pickersgill.jpg|Jeremy Bentham, 1829
File:William Godwin by Henry William Pickersgill.jpg|William Godwin, 1830
File:Pickersgill humboldt.jpg|Alexander von Humboldt, 1831
File:Edward George Earle Lytton Bulwer Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton by Henry William Pickersgill.jpg|Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1831
File:Henry William Pickersgill (1782-1875) - Rowland, 1st Viscount Hill (1772-1842) - RCIN 405137 - Royal Collection.jpg|Viscount Hill, c.1835
File:Henry William Pickersgill (1782-1875) - Thomas Drummond (1797–1840), Irish Administrator - PG 2363 - National Galleries of Scotland.jpg|Thomas Drummond, c.1835
File:Charlotte Mardyn.jpg|Charlotte Mardyn, 1836
File:EBrace.jpg|Edward Brace, 1837
File:Sir John Conroy, 1st Bt by Henry William Pickersgill.jpg|John Conroy, 1837
File:Edward Denison by HW Pickersgill.jpg|Edward Denison, 1838
File:Thomas Turton by HW Pickersgill.jpg|Thomas Turton, 1844
File:Henry William Pickersgill (1782-1875) - Sir Richard Owen - NPG 938 - National Portrait Gallery.jpg|Richard Owen, 1845
File:Henry William Pickersgill (1782-1875) - Robert Vernon - N00416 - National Gallery.jpg|Robert Vernon, 1846
File:Henry Benjamin Hanbury Beaufoy.jpg|Henry Benjamin Hanbury Beaufoy, 1848
File:Henry William Pickersgill (1782-1875) - Admiral Sir Edward Campbell Owen (1771–1849) - BHC2927 - Royal Museums Greenwich.jpg|Edward Owen, c.1849
File:Henry William Pickersgill (1782-1875) - Emily Maria Pickersgill (1837–1924), Later Mrs George Hebberd Cable, in Spanish Costume - 509856 - National Trust.jpg|Emily Maria Pickersgill, 1850
File:William Wordsworth by Henry William Pickersgill.jpg|William Wordsworth, 1850
File:Hon. William Gordon, Vice Admiral of Scotland - Henry William Pickersgill - ABDCC001033.jpg|William Gordon, 1854
File:Charles-Barry.jpg|Charles Barry, Unknown date
File:Sir Robert Peel, 2nd Bt by Henry William Pickersgill.jpg|Robert Peel, Unknown date
See also
References
{{reflist}}
External links
{{Commons category|Henry William Pickersgill}}
- {{Art UK bio}}
- {{ws|The Minstrel of Chamouni}} is a painting of 1828, based on an earlier portrait of Letitia Elizabeth Landon. This engraving was the frontispiece to The Amulet annual for 1830.
- {{ws|The Greek Girl}}, engraved by Charles Fox for The Amulet annual for 1832, with a poetical illustration by Letitia Elizabeth Landon.
- Picture in oil colours by George Baxter of {{ws|Zenobia}} in Pictorial Album; or, Cabinet of Paintings, 1837, with a poetical illustration by Letitia Elizabeth Landon
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Pickersgill, Henry William}}
Category:19th-century English painters
Category:English male painters
Category:English portrait painters
Category:English Orientalist painters