A biographical and critical dictionary of recent and living painters and engravers / by Henry Ottley.

  • Henry Ottley
Date:
1875
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A biographical and critical dictionary of recent and living painters and engravers / by Henry Ottley. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    cox] Time in Wales,’ ‘ Welsh. Funeral,’ and the ‘ Old Welsh Church at Bettws a ‘ Hay Time,’ ‘ Chat Moss,’ ‘ Besom Makers,’ ‘ Windsor Castle,’ ‘ Bol- sover Castle,’ ‘ Vale of Clwyd,’ &c. In the In- ternational Exhibition, 1862, some of the above were also exhibited, together with ‘ A Barn with Trees, and a Pool,’ ‘Beaumaris,’ ‘Fern Gatherers, ‘ The Chamber of Deputies—Paris,’ (one of his few urban subjects.) Wales was the field above all others where this truly natural painter loved, to gather laurels. In the neighbourhood of Bettws-y-coed he worked for years. “ The little inn there, ‘ The Oak’ (writes the compiler of ‘ Our Living Painters’ in 1859), is indeed a classic spot, and troops of painters now flock thither in the season, sit in the parlour whose wall David Cox has himself decorated in fresco, and with pipe, and jug, and talk, while the long summer twilights pleasantly away.” COX, David, junior, son of the preceding, himself a landscape painter in water colours, worthily following in the footsteps of his father, and remarkable, like him, for his healthy appre- ciation of Nature, and aptness of ^ hand in its delineation. He is an Associate of the Society of Painters in Water Colours. CRANE, Thomas, was born at Chester in 1808. Showing early a taste for art, he was, through the liberality of Mr. Edward Taylor, enabled, in 1824, to come up to London, where he joined the schools of the Academy, and remained two years, obtain- ing, in 1825, the medal for his drawings from the antique. Returning to Chester, Mr. Crane com- menced his profession as a miniature painter, and not very long after, he published, in conjunction with a brother, some sketches of celebrated cha- racters in North Wales, among whom were Lady Eleanor Butler, and Miss Ponsonby, the eccentric ‘ladies of Llangollen.’ In 1832 he made his first appearance as an exhibitor at the Liverpool Academy, and continued to contribute to that In- stitution for many years. In 1835 he was elected an Associate, in 1.838 a full member, and in 1841 treasurer of that Academy. But the delicate state of his health would not permit of his re- maining in that town, and he removed to Tor- quay, where he resided twelve years, occasionally visiting the scene of his earlier connections in the North, where he procured lucrative commis- sions, such as could not be obtained within the limited circle of a watering-place. Mr. Crane made another change of residence, to Bayswater, in 1857 ; where he died in July, 1859. Mr. Crane was most successful in portraits of females and children, both in oil and water-colours ; his treat- ment of such subjects being so elegant and so full of fancy as almost to become ideal works, yet without compromising their verisimilitude. He also painted figure subjects, as :—‘ The first Whisper of Love,’ ‘ The Deserted Village,’ ‘ The Cobbler,’ ‘The Old Romance,’ ‘The Bay Win- dow,’ and ‘ Masquerading,’ most of which were exhibited at the Royal Academy. CRESWICK, Thomas, was born at Sheffield in 1811, whence he removed to Birmingham, where he made some progress in Landscape drawing. He came to London, and became an exhibitor at the Society of British Artists, in Suffolk Street, and afterwards at the Royal Academy in 1828 ; his early subjects being taken from the scenery in North Wales. His subjects are thoroughly national in character, with some- what of the too frequent coldness of our insular atmosphere prevailing in them, but are always pleasing from their truth of representation. Sleeping breadths of calm river, on -whose surface the sunlight sparkles in silver sheen ; light and graceful masses of foliage on which the lights and shadows of summer-weather change fitfullv; a sky over whose blue expanse a few feathery clouds are sailing languidly away; cattle drink- ing in the shallows ; an angler lolling drowsily on the bank ; a sweep of half-wooded hills behind, and then the bold sharp, clean-cut outlines, of Snowdonia, paled by distance and intervening air; such are the scenes which he generally paints ; sometimes, however, diversifying the pro- gramme with ‘ A Rocky Stream,’ ‘ The London Road a Hundred Years Ago,’ and later in Life, for a brief period having recourse to sea views, as, ‘ Home by the Sands,’ ‘ A Squally Day,’ &c. Lately he has occasionally painted in conjunction with Mr. Frith and Mr. Ansdell, who have intro- duced figures and cattle to enliven his scenery. He has made numerous sketches for book illus- trations ; and etches well himself. Mr. Creswick was elected an Associate of the Royal Academy in 1842, and an Academician in 1851. The nation possesses three specimens of his talent, viz. : in the Vernon Collection, (National Gallery), ‘The Pathway to the Village Church,’ 1839 ; and in the Sheepshanks Collection, ‘AMountain Stream on the Tummell, Perthshire, and ‘ a Summer’s Afternoon,’ both painted in 1844. CRISTALL, Joshua, a water-colour painter of the old school, and one of the founders of the Society of painters in Water-colours, and for many years, till his death, the President of that Institution :—died at St. John’s Wood, in Octo- ber, 1847, in the 80th year of his age. CROLL, Feancis, Engraver, was born at Edinburgh, in 1827. At a very early age his talent for drawing attracted the notice of the Messrs. Ritchie, the well-known Scottish sculp- tors, who urged his friends to cultivate it; he was therefore, in due time, articled to Mr. Dobbie, of Edinburgh, an engraver, and an excellent draughtsman and naturalist, with whom he made considerable progress in drawing, but not much in the art of engraving, inasmuch as his master had little employment in works of any import- ance. On the death of Mr. Dobbie before the expiration of his term of servitude, he was placed with Mr. R. C. Bell, with whom he remained two years. While thus occupied with his graver, Mr. Croll found time to attend the schools of the Scot- tish Academy, then under the direction of the late Sir W. Allan, whose tact and ability to impart knowledge, combined with a readiness on the part of the young student to receive it, enabled the latter to become a superior draughtsman ; this gave him the power to engrave with much facility and correctness, especially in portraiture ; and hence he was frequently employed by the Edin- burgh publishers in the execution of portraits for their publications. He was one of a few engra- vers commissioned by the ‘ Scottish Association for the Encouragement of Art,’ to engrave a series of plates from ‘The Cottar’s Saturday Night,’ from drawings by J. Faed, R.S.A. While on the subject entrusted to him, number five on the list, he died ot disease of the heart, February, 1854. CROME, J. B., landscape painter, the son and
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