The Bristol School (or Bristol School of Artists) is a term applied retrospectively to describe the informal association and works of a group of artists working in
Bristol
Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...
, England, in the early 19th century.
It was mainly active in the 1820s, although the origins and influences of the school have been traced over the wider period 1810–40.
During the period of his participation in the activities of the Bristol School,
Francis Danby
Francis Danby (16 November 1793 – 9 February 1861) was an Irish painter of the Romantic era. His imaginative, dramatic landscapes were comparable to those of John Martin. Danby initially developed his imaginative style while he was the centr ...
developed the atmospheric, poetical style of
landscape painting
Landscape painting, also known as landscape art, is the depiction of natural scenery such as mountains, valleys, trees, rivers, and forests, especially where the main subject is a wide view—with its elements arranged into a coherent compo ...
which then initiated his period of great success in London in the 1820s.
Formation
The school initially formed around
Edward Bird
Edward Bird (1772 – 2 November 1819) was an English Genre works, genre painter who spent most of his working life in Bristol, where the Bristol School of artists formed around him. He enjoyed a few years of popularity in London, where h ...
some years before his death in 1819.
Having arrived in Bristol from Ireland in 1813,
Francis Danby
Francis Danby (16 November 1793 – 9 February 1861) was an Irish painter of the Romantic era. His imaginative, dramatic landscapes were comparable to those of John Martin. Danby initially developed his imaginative style while he was the centr ...
was a participant from around 1818–19 and remained connected to the group for around a decade,
although he left Bristol for London in 1824.
Other artists involved were
Edward Villiers Rippingille
Edward Villiers Rippingille (c. 1790–1859) was an English oil painting, oil painter and watercolourist who was a member of the informal group of artists which has come to be known as the Bristol School. In that group he was a particula ...
,
Samuel Jackson,
James Johnson James Johnson may refer to:
Artists, actors, authors, and musicians
*James Austin Johnson (born 1989), American comedian & actor, ''Saturday Night Live'' cast member
*James B. Johnson (born 1944), author of science nonfiction novels
*James P. John ...
,
Nathan Cooper Branwhite
Nathan Cooper Branwhite (c. 1775 – 18 March 1857) was an English miniature portrait painter, watercolourist and engraver who was a member of the Bristol School of artists. He was Bristol's leading miniature portrait painter in the 18 ...
,
William West,
James Baker Pyne
James Baker Pyne (5 December 1800 – 29 July 1870) was an English landscape painter who became a successful follower of Turner, after having been in his earlier years a member of the Bristol School of artists and a follower of Francis Dan ...
,
George Arthur Fripp and
Paul Falconer Poole
Paul Falconer Poole (1807–1879) was a British subject and genre painter. Though self-taught, his fine feeling for colour, poetic sympathy, and dramatic power gained Poole a high position among British artists.
Early life
Paul Falconer Poo ...
.
Amateur artists also participated. These included
John Eagles
John Eagles (1783–1855), was an English artist and author. His essays, mainly in art criticism, appeared in ''Blackwood's Magazine'' and were collected and published after his death. He also produced poetry and translations.
Biography
Eagles, ...
, Francis Gold and his brother Henry, the surgeon John King and
George Cumberland
George Cumberland (27 November 1754 – 8 August 1848) was an English art collector, writer and poet. He was a lifelong friend and supporter of William Blake, and like him was an experimental printmaker. He was also an amateur watercolouris ...
.
Cumberland was a friend of
William Blake
William Blake (28 November 1757 – 12 August 1827) was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognised during his life, Blake is now considered a seminal figure in the history of the poetry and visual art of the Romantic Age. ...
and of many important members of the
Royal Academy.
Patrons of the school included the
antiquarian George Weare Braikenridge
George Weare Braikenridge (1775–1856) was an English antiquarian. He was born in the Colony of Virginia, but lived for most of his life in Bristol, England, where he created a large collection of Bristolian historical and topographical mate ...
and the industrialists John Gibbons, Daniel Wade Acraman and Charles Hare.
Activities
The group conducted evening sketching meetings and sketching excursions to scenic locations around Bristol, in particular the
Avon Gorge
The Avon Gorge () is a 1.5-mile (2.5-kilometre) long gorge on the River Avon in Bristol, England. The gorge runs south to north through a limestone ridge west of Bristol city centre, and about 3 miles (5 km) from the mouth of the ...
,
Leigh Woods
Leigh Woods is a area of woodland on the south-west side of the Avon Gorge, close to the Clifton Suspension Bridge, within North Somerset opposite the English city of Bristol and north of the Ashton Court estate, of which it formed a part. St ...
, Nightingale Valley and
Stapleton Valley. Works by the group often featured these locations.
A variation on this theme is ''The Avon Gorge from the summit of the Observatory'' (1834), an oil painting by West from the vantage point of his own
observatory on
Clifton Down
Clifton Down is an area of public open space in Bristol, England, north of the village of Clifton. With its neighbour Durdham Down to the northeast, it constitutes the large area known as The Downs, much used for leisure including walking and ...
.
Depictions of excursions taking place in these landscapes include Danby's ''View of the Avon Gorge'' (1822), Johnson's ''The Entrance to Nightingale Valley'' (1825), and Rippingille's ''Sketching Party in Leigh Woods'' (c. 1828).
Imaginary, fantasy landscapes in monochrome
wash
WASH (or Watsan, WaSH) is an acronym that stands for "water, sanitation and hygiene". It is used widely by non-governmental organizations and aid agencies in developing countries. The purposes of providing access to WASH services include achievi ...
were common subjects of the evening meetings, usually taking inspiration from the Bristol scenery.
One of the most important events for the school was the first exhibition of the work of local artists at the new
Bristol Institution
Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...
in 1824.
The organisers of this exhibition included Jackson, Johnson, Rippingille and Branwhite.
The fifth organiser was a second John King, an artist and friend of Danby from
Dartmouth.
There were other artists working in Bristol during this period who do not seem to have been participants in the school's activities. These included
Rolinda Sharples
Rolinda Sharples (1793–1838) was an English painter who specialised in portraits and genre paintings in oil. She exhibited at the Royal Academy and at the Society of British Artists, where she became an honorary member.
Biography
Rolinda Shar ...
,
Samuel Colman
Samuel Colman (March 4, 1832 – March 26, 1920) was an American painter, interior designer, and writer, probably best remembered for his paintings of the Hudson River.
Life and career
Born in Portland, Maine, Colman moved to New York City ...
and some of the
topographical
Topography is the study of the forms and features of land surfaces. The topography of an area may refer to the land forms and features themselves, or a description or depiction in maps.
Topography is a field of geoscience and planetary sc ...
artists working for Braikenridge such as
Hugh O'Neill,
Thomas Leeson Scrase Rowbotham and Edward Cashin.
Later years
The evening sketching meetings lasted at least until 1829, when Danby participated in one while revisiting Bristol, although other meetings by that time were not so well attended, according to Danby.
Around 1832–33 a new series of sketching meetings was started. This initially included
William James Müller
William James Müller (28 June 18128 September 1845), also spelt Muller, was a British landscape and figure painter, the best-known artist of the Bristol School.
Life
Müller was born at Bristol, the son of J. S. Müller, a Prussian from Danz ...
, Thomas Leeson Scrase Rowbotham,
John Skinner Prout
John Skinner Prout (19 December 1805 – 29 August 1876) was a British painter, writer, lithographer and art teacher who worked in Australia in the 1840s.
Biography
Skinner Prout was born on 19 December 1805 in Plymouth, Devon, England ...
and Robert Tucker, according to Tucker's own account. The meetings later grew to include more artists, although relatively few surviving drawings have been identified, compared to the meetings of the 1820s,
and by the 1830s the works of the Bristol School were less original.
Other participants in the meetings probably included Samuel Jackson, Stephen C. Jones, James Baker Pyne,
Henry Brittan Willis, W. Williams,
Joseph Walter,
George Arthur Fripp, Edmund Gustavus Müller,
and
William Evans.
These sketching meetings may have lasted into the 1840s.
William James Müller's biographer Nathaniel Neal Solly described the sketching meetings as a formal club, but some commentators believe he had confused them with the formation of the
Bristol Society of Artists, which held its first exhibition in 1832 at the Bristol Institution. That exhibition included numerous works by Samuel Jackson, James Johnson, Nathan Cooper Branwhite and William James Müller.
Influence
Danby's atmospheric, poetical style of landscapes as initially developed within the Bristol School bore fruit in works such as ''An Enchanted Island'', ''A Land of Dreams'', ''The Naiads Isle'' and ''An Enchanted Garden''. ''An Enchanted Island'', successfully exhibited in 1825 at the
British Institution and then back in Bristol at the Bristol Institution, was in turn particularly influential on other Bristol School artists.
However, the 1832 exhibition of the Bristol Society of Artists included a number of works by artists of the
Norwich School
Norwich School (formally King Edward VI Grammar School, Norwich) is a selective English independent day school in the close of Norwich Cathedral, Norwich. Among the oldest schools in the United Kingdom, it has a traceable history to 1096 as a ...
:
John Sell Cotman
John Sell Cotman (16 May 1782 – 24 July 1842) was an English marine and landscape painter, etcher, illustrator, author and a leading member of the Norwich School of painters.
Born in Norwich, the son of a silk merchant and lace dealer, Co ...
,
Miles Edmund Cotman
Miles Edmund Cotman (5 February 1810 –23 January 1858) was an English artist of the Norwich School of painters, the eldest son of John Sell Cotman.
Life
Cotman was born on 5 February 1810, the son of the artist John Sell Cotman and Ann Mile ...
and
John Berney Crome
John Berney (or Barney) Crome (1 December 1794 – 15 September 1842) was an English landscape and marine painter associated with the Norwich School of painters. He is sometimes known by the nickname 'Young Crome' to distinguish him from h ...
.
John Sell Cotman was to prove a greater influence on the later work of William James Müller than Danby and other Bristol School artists, despite Müller's having been apprenticed to John Baker Pyne during 1827–29/30.
Pyne himself in his later career did not continue in the style of Danby's poetical landscapes that he had followed in his Bristol years.
References
External links
Bristol City Museum and Art Gallery
{{Authority control
Culture in Bristol
19th century in Bristol
English art
English artist groups and collectives
19th-century art groups
Artists from Bristol