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FREDERICK WALKER (184o--1875)

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Originally appearing in Volume V28, Page 271 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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FREDERICK See also:WALKER (184o--1875)  , See also:English subject painter, the son of a designer of See also:jewelry, was See also:born in Marylebone, See also:London, on the 24th of May 184o . When very See also:young he began to draw from the See also:antique in the See also:British Museum, and at the See also:age of sixteen he was placed in the See also:office of an architect named See also:Baker . The occupation proved uncongenial; at the end of eighteen months he resumed his See also:work from the See also:Elgin See also:marbles at the British Museum, and attended See also:Leigh's See also:life school in See also:Newman See also:Street . In See also:March 1858 he was admitted a student of the Royal See also:Academy . But his study in the academy See also:schools was disconnected, and ceased before he reached the life class, as he was anxious to begin earning his own living . As a means to this end, he turned his See also:attention to designing for the See also:wood-engravers, and worked three days a See also:week for about two years in the studio of J . W . Whyrnper, under whose tuition he quickly mastered the technicalities of See also:drawing on wood . His earliest See also:book illustrations appeared in 186o in Once a Week, a periodical to which he was a prolific contributor, as also to the Cornhill See also:Magazine, where his admirable designs appeared to the See also:works of See also:Thackeray and those of his daughter . These woodcuts, especially his illustrations to Thackeray's Adventures of See also:Philip and See also:Denis See also:Duval, are among the most spirited and See also:artistic works of their class, and entitle See also:Walker to See also:rank with See also:Millais at the very See also:head of the draughtsmen who have dealt with scenes of contemporary life . Indeed, by his contributions to Once a Week alone he made an immediate reputation as an artist of rare accomplishment, and although he was associated on that periodical with such men as Millais, See also:Holman See also:Hunt, See also:Leech, See also:Sandys, See also:Charles See also:Keene, See also:Tenniel, and Du Maurier, he more than held his own against all competitors . In the intervals of work as a book illustrator he practised See also:painting in See also:water-See also:colours, his subjects being frequently more considered and refined repetitions in See also:colour of his blackand-See also:white designs .

Among the more notable of his productions in water-colour are " See also:

Spring," " A Fishmonger's See also:Shop," " The See also:Ferry," and " Philip in See also:Church," which gained a See also:medal in the See also:Paris See also:International See also:Exhibition of 1867 . He was elected an See also:associate of the Society of Painters in Water Colours in 1864 and a full member in 1866; and in 1871 he became an associate of the Royal Academy . In this same See also:year he was made an honorary member of the Belgian Society of Painters in Water Colours . His first oil picture, " The Lost Path," was exhibited in the Royal Academy in 1863, where it was followed in 1867 by " The Bathers," one of the artist's finest works, in 1868 by " The Vagrants," now in the See also:National See also:Gallery of British See also:Art, in 1869 by " The Old See also:Gate," and in 18so by " The Plough," a powerful and impressive rendering of ruddy evening See also:light, of which the landscape was studied in See also:Somerset . In 1871 he exhibited his tragic life-sized figure of " A See also:Female Prisoner at the See also:Bar," a subject which now exists only in a finished oil study, for the painter afterwards effaced the head, with which he was dissatisfied, but was prevented by See also:death from again completing the picture . The last of his fully successful works was " A See also:Harbour of See also:Refuge," shown in 1872 (also in the National Gallery of British Art); for " The Right of Way," exhibited in 1875, bears evident signs of the artist's failing strength . He-WALKER, G . .27J had suffered indeed for some years from a consumptive tendency; in 1868 he made a See also:sea voyage, for his See also:health's See also:sake, to See also:Venice; where he stayed with See also:Orchardson and Birket See also:Foster, and at the end of 1873 he went for a while to See also:Algiers with J . W . See also:North, in the See also:hope that he might derive benefit from a See also:change of See also:climate . But, returning in the See also:bitter English spring, he was again prostrated; and on the 5th of See also:June 1875 he died of See also:consumption at St See also:Fillan's, See also:Perthshire . The works of See also:Frederick Walker are thoroughly See also:original and individual, both in the quality of their colour and handling and in their view of nature and humanity .

His colour, especially in his water-colours, is distinctive, powerful and full of delicate gradations . He had an admirable sense of See also:

design, and the figures of his peasants at their daily toil show a See also:grace and sweeping largeness of See also:line in which can be plainly traced the effect produced upon his See also:taste by his See also:early study of the antique; at the same See also:time the sentiment of his subjects is unfailingly refined and poetic . His vigour of design may be seen in his See also:poster for See also:Wilkie See also:Collins's The Woman in White, now in the National Gallery of British Art . See Life and Letters of Frederick Walker, A.R.A., by See also:John See also:George Marks (1896), a full See also:biography of a See also:personal rather than a See also:critical See also:kind . Frederick Walker and his Works, by See also:Claude See also:Phillips (1897), should be consulted as an excellent critical supplement to the larger See also:volume . See also Essays on Art, by J . Comyns Carr, which includes a judicious See also:essay on Walker .

End of Article: FREDERICK WALKER (184o--1875)
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