:'' Not to be confused with the 20th-century painter

Arthur Murch :'' Not to be confused with the 19th-century illustrator Arthur Murch (illustrator)''. Arthur James Murch (8 July 1902, Croydon (Sydney) – 3 September 1989, Avalon (Sydney)) was an Australian artist who won the Archibald Prize in 1949 with ...

''. Arthur Murch (1836 – 2 December 1885) was a British painter and illustrator.

Life

He was the younger son of Jerom Murch (1807–1895), Unitarian minister at

Bath, Somerset Bath () is a city in the Bath and North East Somerset unitary area in the county of Somerset, England, known for and named after its Roman-built baths. At the 2021 Census, the population was 101,557. Bath is in the valley of the River Avon, ...

, and his wife Anne Meadows Taylor (1800–1893). Murch was a pupil of

Charles Gleyre Marc Gabriel Charles Gleyre (2 May 1806 – 5 May 1874), was a Swiss artist who was a resident in France from an early age. He took over the studio of Paul Delaroche in 1843 and taught a number of younger artists who became prominent, including He ...

, in 1859. Meeting Val Prinsep and

Frederic Leighton Frederic Leighton, 1st Baron Leighton, (3 December 1830 – 25 January 1896), known as Sir Frederic Leighton between 1878 and 1896, was a British painter, draughtsman, and sculptor. His works depicted historical, biblical, and classical subjec ...

in Rome, where he was painting, he was persuaded by Leighton to study drawing in Paris. He became a Captain in the Somersetshire Rifle Volunteers in 1864. He was sharing a studio in

Great Russell Street Great Russell Street is a street in Bloomsbury, London, best known for being the location of the British Museum. It runs between Tottenham Court Road (part of the A400 route) in the west, and Southampton Row (part of the A4200 route) in the east ...

, London in the later 1860s, with Frederick Jameson (1839–1916), but suffering from health problems. He was in Italy, 1871 to 1873, being in

Capri Capri ( , ; ; ) is an island located in the Tyrrhenian Sea off the Sorrento Peninsula, on the south side of the Gulf of Naples in the Campania region of Italy. The main town of Capri that is located on the island shares the name. It has been ...

in 1872. During the early 1880s he lived in Rome, with his wife. Murch belonged to

The Arts Club The Arts Club is a London private members' club founded in 1863 by, among others, Charles Dickens, Anthony Trollope, and Lord Leighton in Dover Street, Mayfair. It remains a meeting place for men and women involved in the creative arts either ...

from 1865 to 1877. He died on 2 December 1885, at

Aachen Aachen ( ; ; Aachen dialect: ''Oche'' ; French and traditional English: Aix-la-Chapelle; or ''Aquisgranum''; nl, Aken ; Polish: Akwizgran) is, with around 249,000 inhabitants, the 13th-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia, and the 28th- ...

Works

Murch worked on ''Dalziels' Bible Gallery'', published by the

Dalziel Brothers The Brothers Dalziel (pronounced ) was a prolific wood-engraving business in Victorian London, founded in 1839 by George Dalziel. The Dalziel family In 1840, George (1 December 1815 – 4 August 1902) was joined in the business by his brother E ...

Walter Crane Walter Crane (15 August 184514 March 1915) was an English artist and book illustrator. He is considered to be the most influential, and among the most prolific, children's book creators of his generation and, along with Randolph Caldecott and K ...

, who knew Murch, noted that he was "meticulous", and finished little. His reputation was based on the two illustrations he produced for the ''Bible Gallery''.

Family

Arthur Murch married Edith Edenborough, who after his death remarried on 17 March 1891 to Matthew Ridley Corbet. Edith was one of the Scuola Etrusca, around Giovanni Costa. Arthur and Edith had a son, Denis Jerom Murch, born at Venice in 1874. Later in the

Royal Artillery The Royal Regiment of Artillery, commonly referred to as the Royal Artillery (RA) and colloquially known as "The Gunners", is one of two regiments that make up the artillery arm of the British Army. The Royal Regiment of Artillery comprises t ...

, he was left property in Sir Jerom Murch's will. He died in the

Second Boer War The Second Boer War ( af, Tweede Vryheidsoorlog, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, the Anglo–Boer War, or the South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer Republics (the Sout ...

, at

Sanna's Post Sanna's Post (a.k.a. Korn Spruit) was an engagement fought during the Second Boer War (1899-1902) between the British Empire and the Boers of the two independent republics of the Orange Free State and the South African Republic. Background In e ...

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Murch, Arthur 1836 births 1885 deaths English engravers Artists from Bath, Somerset 19th-century English painters English male painters 19th-century English male artists