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FORD MADOX BROWN (1821-1893)

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Originally appearing in Volume V04, Page 658 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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FORD MADOX See also:BROWN (1821-1893)  , See also:English painter, was See also:born at See also:Calais on the 16th of See also:April 1821 . His See also:father was See also:Ford See also:Brown, a retired See also:purser in the See also:navy; his See also:mother, See also:Caroline Madox, of an old Kentish See also:family . His paternal grandfather was Dr See also:John Brown, who established the Brunonian Theory of See also:Medicine . Ford Madox Brown was the only See also:child of his parents, See also:save for a daughter who died See also:young . In childhood he was shifted about a See also:good See also:deal between See also:France and See also:England; and having shown from the See also:age of six or seven a turn for See also:drawing he was taken, when fourteen years old, and with meagre acquirements in the way of See also:general tuition, to See also:Bruges, and placed under the instruction of Gregorius, a See also:pupil of See also:David . His See also:principal instructor, however, from about 1837, was See also:Baron See also:Wappers, of See also:Antwerp, then regarded as a See also:great See also:light of the Belgian school . From him the youth learned the technique not only of oil See also:painting but of various other branches of See also:art . At a very See also:early age Brownattained a remarkable degree of force in drawing and painting, as attested by an extant oil-portrait of his father, done at an age • not exceeding fifteen . His first See also:composition, towards 1836, represented a See also:blind See also:beggar and his child; his first exhibited See also:work, 1837, was " See also:Job on the Ash-heap "; the first exhibited work in See also:London (at the Royal See also:Academy, 184o), " The See also:Giaour's See also:Confession," from See also:Byron's poem . Both his parents died before 184o, leaving to the young painter a moderate competence, which soon was materially reduced . In 184o Brown completed a large picture, " The See also:Execution of See also:Mary, See also:queen of Scots," strong in dramatic effect and in handling, with rather sombre See also:colour; from this See also:time forth he must be regarded as a proficient artist, See also:independent in his point of view and strenuous in execution . He contributed to the See also:cartoon competitions, 1844 and 1845, for the Houses of See also:Parliament—" See also:Adam and See also:Eve after the Fall," "The See also:Body of Harold brought to See also:William the Conqueror," and " The Spirit of See also:Justice." These highly remarkable cartoons passed not wholly unobserved, but not one of them obtained a See also:prize .

The years 184o to 1845 were passed in See also:

Paris, London and See also:Rome: towards the See also:middle of 1846 Brown settled permanently in London . In 1841 he had married his See also:cousin See also:Elizabeth See also:Bromley, who died of See also:consumption in 1846, leaving a daughter, See also:Lucy, who in 1874 became the wife of William M . See also:Rossetti . Not See also:long after being See also:left a widower, Brown took a second wife, Emma See also:Hill, who figures in many of his pictures . She had two See also:children who See also:grew up: See also:Catherine, who married Dr See also:Franz Hueffer, the musical See also:scholar and critic, and See also:Oliver, who died in 1874 in his twentieth See also:year . All three children showed considerable ability in painting, and Oliver in See also:romance as well . The second Mrs Brown died in 189o . The most marked distinction of Brown as an artist may be defined as vigorous invention of historic or dramatic scenes, carried out with a great regard to individuality in the personages, expressions and accessories of incident and detail, not excluding the See also:familiar, the See also:peculiar and the semi-See also:grotesque, when these seem to subserve the general See also:intent . Owing, however, to his association with artists of the so-called " pre-Raphaelite " See also:movement (which began See also:late in 1848), and especially with See also:Dante See also:Gabriel Rossetti, who received some training in his studio in the See also:spring of that year, he has been regarded sometimes as the precursor or initiator of this movement, and sometimes as a See also:direct co-operator in it . His claim to be regarded as a precursor or initiator is not strong; though it is true that even before 1841 he had pondered the theory (not then much in See also:vogue) that a picture ought to See also:present the veritable light and shade proper to some one moment in the See also:day, and his " See also:Manfred on the See also:Jungfrau " (1841) exemplifies this principle to some extent; it reappears in his very large picture of " See also:Chaucer at the See also:Court of See also:Edward III." (now in the public See also:gallery of See also:Sydney, See also:Australia), which, although projected in 1845, was not brought to completion until 1851 . As to becoming a direct co-operator in the pre-Raphaelite movement, he did not join the " Brotherhood," though it would have been open to him to do so; but for some years his See also:works exhibited a marked See also:influence derived from the movement, not on the whole to their clear See also:advantage . The principal pictures of this class are: " The See also:Pretty Baa-See also:lambs "; " Work " (a See also:street See also:scene at See also:Hampstead); and " The Last of England " (an See also:emigration subject, one of his most excellent achievements) : dating between 1851 and 1863 .

" See also:

Christ Washing See also:Peter's Feet " (now in the See also:National Gallery of See also:British Art) comes within the same range of See also:dates, and is a masterly work; here the pre-Raphaelite influence is less See also:manifest . Altogether it may be averred that the conception and introduction of the pre-Raphaelite See also:scheme, such as it appeared to the public See also:eye in 1849 and r85o, belong to See also:Millais, See also:Holman See also:Hunt and Rossetti, rather than to Brown . Other leading pictures by Brown are the following:— "Cordelia at the Bedside of See also:Lear "; " See also:Shakespeare "; See also:Jacob and See also:Joseph's Coat "; " See also:Elijah and the Widow's Son "; "Cordelia's Portion "; " The Entombment "; " Romeo and Juliet" (the parting on the See also:balcony); " See also:Don Juan and Haidee "; " See also:Cromwell on his See also:Farm "; " Cromwell, See also:Protector of the Vaudois ":—covering the See also:period from 1849 to 1877 . " See also:Sardanapalus and Myrrha." begun within the same period, was finished later . He produced, moreover, a great number of excellent cartoons for stained See also:glass, being up to 1874 a member of the See also:firm of decorative art, See also:Morris, See also:Marshall, Faulkner and Co . He also executed, in See also:colours or in crayons, various portraits, including his own . From 1878 he was almost engrossed by work which he undertook for the See also:town See also:hall of See also:Manchester, and which entailed his living for some few years in that See also:city—twelve large See also:wall paintings, some of them done in a modified See also:form of the See also:Gambier-See also:Parry See also:process, and others in See also:oils on See also:canvas applied to the wall See also:surface . They present a compendium of the See also:history of Manchester and its See also:district, from the See also:building of the See also:Roman See also:camp at See also:Mancunium to the experimental work of See also:Dalton in elaborating the atomic theory . This is an extremely See also:fine See also:series, though with some diversity of individual merit in the paintings, and is certainly the See also:chief representative, in the See also:United See also:Kingdom, of any such form of See also:artistic effort—if we leave out of See also:count the works (by various painters) in the Houses of Parliament . Madox Brown was never a popular or highly remunerated artist . Up' to near middle age he went through trying straits in See also:money matters; afterwards his circumstances improved, but he was not really well off at any time . In youth he followed the usual course as an exhibiting painter, but after some See also:mortification and See also:heart-burnings he did little in this way after 1852 .

He held, however, in 1865, an See also:

exhibition of his own then numerous paintings and designs . He also delivered a few lectures on fine art from time to time . From 1868 he suffered from See also:gout; and this led to an attack of See also:apoplexy, from which he died in London on the 6th of See also:October 1893 . He was a See also:man of upright, independent and See also:honourable See also:character, of warm affections, a steady and self-sacrificing friend; but he took offence rather readily, and viewed various persons and institutions with a degree of suspicion which may be pronounced excessive . He See also:felt See also:interest in many questions outside the range of his art, and, being a good and varied talker, had often some-thing apposite and suggestive to say about them . On more than one occasion he exerted himself very zealously for the benefit of the working classes . In politics he was a consistent Democrat, and on religious questions an Agnostic . The See also:life of this artist has been well written by his See also:grandson, Ford M . Hueffer, in a handsomely illustrated See also:volume entitled Ford Madox Brown (London, 1896) . This volume contains some extracts from Brown's See also:diary, extending in the whole from 1847 to 1865; and other lengthier extracts appear in two books edited by William M . Rossetti—See also:Ruskin, Rossetti, Pre-Raphaelitism (1899), and Pre-Raphaelite Diaries and Letters (1899) . See also the Preferences in Art, &c., by Harry Quilter (1892), and a pamphlet, Ford Madox Brown (1901), by See also:Helen Rossetti (Angeli), applicable to a collection of his works exhibited in the Whitechapel Art Gallery ..

(W . M .

End of Article: FORD MADOX BROWN (1821-1893)
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