Ford Madox Brown

{"Id":511,"Name":"Ford Madox Brown","Biography":"Brown was born in Calais on 16th April 1821, his father being a ships purser. Brown trained in Belgium, \u0026 also in Paris. He visited Rome in 1845/6, coming into contact with the Nazerenes, a group of German painters based in the city. The Nazarenes pre-dated the Pre-Raphaelites, \u0026 the two movements had much in common. Brown married his cousin, Elisabeth Bromley, but unfortunately she died in 1846, leaving him with one child. \u003Ca href=\u0022/asp/database/art.asp?aid=76\u0022 target=\u0022_self\u0022 class=\u0022link\u0022\u003ERossetti\u003C/a\u003E approached Brown, asking to be taken on as a studio pupil in early 1848. The suspicious Brown initially thought he was being teased, but on discovering that Rossetti was genuine, took him on as a pupil. This arrangement did not last long, as Rossetti replaced Brown as his instructor, with \u003Ca href=\u0022/asp/database/art.asp?aid=914\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022 class=\u0022link\u0022\u003EWilliam Holman Hunt\u003C/a\u003E. This does not seem to have affected their relationship, however, as they remained friends until the end of Rossetti\u0027s life, when Brown designed his gravestone. \u003Cbr\u003E\u003Cbr\u003EBrown never actually became a member of the PRB, but was closely associated with it. He was a painstaking slow worker, unwilling to accept compromise of any kind. This means that his output was small, but it was often of a very high quality, \u0026 a number of his pictures were startlingly original. He began three pictures in the early 1850s, entitled \u003Cu\u003EWork\u003C/u\u003E, \u003Cu\u003EThe Last of England\u003C/u\u003E, \u0026 \u003Cu\u003EAutumn Afternoon\u003C/u\u003E. The first two of these paintings were masterpieces.\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Cbr\u003E From the early 1850s Brown lived with Emma Hill, a working class London girl. After the birth of their first child, he married Emma in 1853. Brown worked for a time for \u003Ca href=\u0022/asp/database/art.asp?aid=720\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022 class=\u0022link\u0022\u003EWilliam Morris\u003C/a\u003E, designing stained glass. In the late 1870s, he was commissioned to produce to paint a number of frescos, for the City of Manchester, at their new Town Hall, \u0026 as a result lived in Manchester for a number of years. \u003Cbr\u003E\u003Cbr\u003EBrown was a touchy somewhat difficult character, but was basically a kind, decent human being. There are a number of stories of his helping fellow artists, their widows \u0026 children when they were in difficulty. He had a highly original mind, \u0026 produced some wonderful images. He may just have been the greatest of all these painters. He finally returned to London, \u0026 died there in 1893.\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Cbr\u003ESource: \u003Ca href=\u0022http://www.victorianartinbritain.co.uk/\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003EVictorian Art in Britan\u003C/a\u003E.\u003Cp\u003E","Awards":null,"HasAlbums":false,"HasPortraits":true,"HasRelationships":true,"HasArticles":false,"HasDepictedPlaces":true,"HasLetters":false,"HasLibraryItems":false,"HasProducts":true,"HasSignatures":false,"HasVideos":false,"HasMapLocations":true,"TotalArtworks":76}