Clarkson Stanfield

{"Id":1068,"Name":"Clarkson Stanfield","Biography":"\u003Cstrong\u003ESTANFIELD, WILLIAM CLARKSON (1794-1867)\u003C/strong\u003E, English marine painter, was born of Irish parentage at Sunderland in 1794. As a youth he was a sailor, and during many long voyages he acquired that intimate acquaintance with the sea and shipping which was admirably displayed in his subsequent works. In his spare time he diligently occupied himself in sketching marine subjects, and so much skill did he acquire that, after having been incapacitated by an accident from active service, he received an engagement, about 1818, to paint scenery for the Old Royalty, a sailors\u0027 theatre in Wellclose Square, London. Along with \u003Ca href=\u0022/asp/database/art.asp?aid=422\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022 class=\u0022link\u0022\u003EDavid Roberts\u003C/a\u003E he was afterwards employed at the Cobourg theatre, Lambeth; and in 1826 he became scene-painter to Drury Lane theatre, where he executed some admirable work, especially distinguishing himself by the production of a dropscene, and by decorations for the Christmas pieces for which the house was celebrated. Meanwhile he had been at work upon some easel pictures of small dimensions, and was elected a member of the Society of British Artists. Encouraged by his success at the British Institution, where in 1827 he exhibited his first important picture \u003Cu\u003EWreckers off Fort Rouge\u003C/u\u003E and in 1828 gained a premium of 50 guineas, he before 1830 abandoned scene-painting, and in that year made an extended tour on the Continent. He now produced his \u003Cu\u003EMount St Michael\u003C/u\u003E, which ranks as one of his finest works; in 1832 he exhibited his \u003Cu\u003EOpening of New London Bridge\u003C/u\u003E and Portsmouth Harbour commissions from \u003Ca href=\u0022http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/William-IV-of-the-United-Kingdom\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022 class=\u0022link\u0022\u003EWilliam IV\u003C/a\u003E in the Royal Academy, of which he was elected an associate in 1832 and an academician in 1835; and until his death on the 18th of May 1867 he contributed to its exhibitions a long series of powerful and highly popular works, dealing mainly with marine subjects, but occasionally with scenes of a more purely landscape character. Among these may be named: the \u003Cu\u003EBattle of Trafalgar\u003C/u\u003E (1836), executed for the United Service Club; the \u003Cu\u003ECastle of Ischia\u003C/u\u003E (1841), \u003Cu\u003EIsola Bella\u003C/u\u003E (1841), among the results of a visit to Italy in 1839; \u003Cu\u003EFrench troops Fording the Margra\u003C/u\u003E (1847), \u003Cu\u003EThe Victory Bearing the Body of Nelson Towed into Gibraltar\u003C/u\u003E (1853), \u003Cu\u003EThe Abandoned\u003C/u\u003E (1856). He also executed two notable series of Venetian subjects, one for the banqueting-hall at Bowood, the other for Trentham. He was much employed on the illustrations for \u003Cu\u003EThe Picturesque Annual\u003C/u\u003E, and published a collection of lithographic views on the Rhine, Moselle and Meuse; and forty of his works were engraved in line under the title of \u003Cu\u003EStanfield\u0027s Coast Scenery\u003C/u\u003E. The whole course of Stanfield\u0027s art was powerfully influenced by his early practice as a scene-painter. But, though there is always a touch of the spectacular and the scenic in his works, and though their colour is apt to be rather dry and hard, they are large and effective in handling, powerful in their treatment of broad atmospheric effects and telling in composition, and they evince the most complete knowledge of the artistic materials with which their painter deals.\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Cbr\u003E \u003Cstrong\u003E\u003Cu\u003ESource:\u003C/u\u003E\u003C/strong\u003E Entry on the artist in the \u003Ca href=\u0022http://15.1911encyclopedia.org/S/ST/STANFIELD_WILLIAM_CLARKSON.htm\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003E1911 Edition Encyclopedia\u003C/a\u003E.\u003Cp\u003E","Awards":null,"HasAlbums":false,"HasPortraits":true,"HasRelationships":true,"HasArticles":false,"HasDepictedPlaces":true,"HasLetters":false,"HasLibraryItems":false,"HasProducts":false,"HasSignatures":false,"HasVideos":false,"HasMapLocations":true,"TotalArtworks":73}