William Henry Pyne

{{short description|English painter}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2021}}

File:An ocean of motion about Spanish commotions or the windy explosion of pot-hous oration (detail, butcher) LCCN2003681692.jpg

William Henry Pyne (1769 in London – 29 May 1843 in London) was an English writer, illustrator and painter, who also wrote under the name of Ephraim Hardcastle.Ford. The pseudonym was revived, some 150 years later, by Nigel Dempster and others for a column in the Daily Mail He trained at the drawing academy of Henry Pars in London. He first exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1790. He specialized in picturesque settings including groups of people rendered in pen, ink and watercolour. Pyne was one of the founders of the Royal Watercolour Society in 1804.{{cite DNB|wstitle=Pyne, William Henry |volume=47 |first=Lionel Henry |last=Cust |pages=86–87}}

Works

Pyne's book The Costume of Great Britain, including 60 paintings of professional and working-class men and women and scenes from everyday life (published by William Miller in 1805),Pyne, William H. (1989) Pyne's British Costumes. Poole: Westminster Editions {{ISBN|1-872128-04-1}} (a facsimile of the 1805 edition) attracted the attention of the publisher Rudolph Ackermann, and Pyne was to engrave and write for many of his projects, including writing the text for the first two volumes of the very successful illustration-centred The Microcosm of London.

He was his own publisher for The History of the Royal Residences (1816–1819), a large illustrated book with 100 engravings of the exteriors and interior decorations and furnishings of Windsor Castle, St. James's Palace, Carlton House, Kensington Palace and Hampton Court Palace. It caused financial difficulties for him – he was imprisoned for debt more than once,Ford and died a poor man in 1843.{{cite book|author=Redgrave, Samuel|author-link=Samuel Redgrave|chapter=Pyne, William Henry|title=A dictionary of artists of the English school|pages=344–345|year=1878|location=London|publisher=George Bell and Sons|url=http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=gri.ark:/13960/t3613cq79;view=1up;seq=364}}

As Ephraim Hardcastle, he wrote gossipy columns on art for the Literary Gazette, which in 1824 were collected in 2 volumes as Wine and Walnuts, or After-dinner Chit-chat. He wrote for other journals, and in 1825 published a novel The Twenty-ninth of May, or Rare Doings at the Restoration.Ford;{{cite DNB|wstitle=Pyne, William Henry |volume=47 |first=Lionel Henry |last=Cust |pages=86–87}}

Pyne's watercolours are in major museum collections, such as the Royal Collection and the British Museum. His son, George Pyne (1800–01 - 1884), was also a painter in watercolour, writer on drawing and perspective.Ford{{Better source needed|date=April 2021}}

Gallery

File:An ocean of motion about Spanish commotions or the windy explosion of pot-hous oration LCCN2003681692.tiff|An ocean of motion about Spanish commotions or the windy explosion of pot-hous oration, 1796–1808

File:Pyne KingsAudienceChamber WindsorCastle edited.jpg | The King's Audience Chamber at Windsor Castle, from The History of the Royal Residences

File:Pynes-hamp1quadrangle.jpg | The quadrangle at Hampton Court

File:St George's Chapel from the Altar, Windsor Castle, from Pyne's Royal Residences, 1819 - panteek pyn16-532.jpg|St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle from the Altar, from Pyne's Royal Residences, 1819.

File:William Pyne- The Costume of Great Britain (1805) - The Pillory.JPG | The Pillory, from The Costume of Great Britain, 1805

File:Waterman to a Coach Stand, 1808.jpg | Waterman to a Coach Stand, from The Costume of Great Britain, 1808

File:Laundry 1806.PNG | Man and woman washing linen in a brook, from Microcosm, 1806

References

{{reflist}}

Further reading

  • Ford, John, "Pyne, William Henry." Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online. Oxford University Press, accessed 27 June 2015, [http://www.oxfordartonline.com/subscriber/article/grove/art/T070183 subscription required]