Cecil Gordon Lawson (3 December 1849 – 10 June 1882
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
) was a British
landscapist and illustrator.
Life
The youngest son of William Lawson of
Edinburgh
Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian on the southern shore of t ...
, a well-regarded portrait painter, and of a mother also known for her flower pieces, he was born in Fountain Place in
Wellington
Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by metr ...
, Shropshire. Two of his brothers (one of them, Malcolm, a clever musician and songwriter) were trained as artists, and Cecil was from childhood devoted to art with the intensity of a serious nature. Soon after his birth, the Lawsons moved to London.
In 1871, Lawson was living with his parents at
15 Cheyne Walk
15 Cheyne Walk is a Grade II* listed house on Cheyne Walk, Chelsea, London, built in 1718. It was originally known as ''Carlton House''. It is considered to be a replica of 4 Cheyne Walk.
Notable former residents include the landscape painte ...
,
Chelsea
Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to:
Places Australia
* Chelsea, Victoria
Canada
* Chelsea, Nova Scotia
* Chelsea, Quebec
United Kingdom
* Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames
** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...
, along with his two older brothers
Francis Wilfrid Lawson (1842–1935), a "historical painter and designer" and Malcolm Leonard Lawson (1847–1918), a "professor of music."
Lawson's first works were studies of fruit, flowers, etc., in the manner of
William Henry Hunt; followed by riverside
Chelsea
Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to:
Places Australia
* Chelsea, Victoria
Canada
* Chelsea, Nova Scotia
* Chelsea, Quebec
United Kingdom
* Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames
** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...
subjects. His first exhibit at the
Royal Academy (1870) was ''
Cheyne Walk
Cheyne Walk is an historic road in Chelsea, London, England, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. It runs parallel with the River Thames. Before the construction of Chelsea Embankment reduced the width of the Thames here, it fronted ...
,'' and in 1871 he sent two other Chelsea subjects. These gained full recognition from fellow-artists, if not from the public. Among his friends were now numbered
Fred Walker Frederick, Frederic, Friedrich or Fred Walker may refer to:
*Frederick Walker (native police commandant) (died 1866), explorer
* Frederick Walker (painter) (1840–1875), English painter and illustrator
*Frederic John Walker (1896–1944), ...
,
GJ Pinwell and their associates. Following them, he made a certain number of drawings for wood-engraving. In 1871 he contributed ''Summer Showers'' to a mixed charity exhibition held in support of those affected by the
Franco-Prussian War.
[The painting was contributed by the artist to the 'Exhibition for the Benefit of the Distressed Peasantry of France', London in 1871 (no.101) and priced 7 guineas.]
Lawson's Chelsea pictures had been painted in rather sombre tones; in ''A Hymn to Spring'' (1871–72;
Santa Barbara Museum of Art) which was rejected by the Academy, he turned to a more colourful approach, helped by work done in North Wales and Ireland. Early in 1874 he made a short tour in the Netherlands, Belgium and Paris; and in the summer he painted the Kent countryside in his large ''The Hop-Gardens of England'' (1874;
Tate
Tate is an institution that houses, in a network of four art galleries, the United Kingdom's national collection of British art, and international modern and contemporary art. It is not a government institution, but its main sponsor is the U ...
, London). This was much praised at the Academy of 1876.
Lawson's triumph was with the luxuriant canvas, ''The Minister's Garden'', exhibited in 1878 at the Grosvenor Gallery, and afterwards bought by
Manchester Art Gallery
Manchester Art Gallery, formerly Manchester City Art Gallery, is a publicly owned art museum on Mosley Street in Manchester city centre. The main gallery premises were built for a learned society in 1823 and today its collection occupies three ...
. His 1878 showing at the Grosvenor Gallery was accompanied by ''Strayed'' (1878; Private collection) and ''Into the Valley: A Pastoral'' (1878; Private collection). This triumph was followed by several works conceived in a new and tragic mood. Lawson's health began to fail, but he worked on.
His later subjects are from the neighbourhood where he lived (the most famous being ''The August Moon'', now
Tate Britain, London) or from
Yorkshire
Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other English counties, functions have ...
. Towards the end of 1881 he went to the
French Riviera, returned in the spring.
Lawson suffered a relapse, and a visit to Eastbourne proved of no benefit.
He died at West Brompton, of inflammation of the lungs, on 10 June 1882, and was buried at Haslemere.
Assessment
Lawson may be said to have restored to English landscape the tradition of
Thomas Gainsborough
Thomas Gainsborough (14 May 1727 (baptised) – 2 August 1788) was an English portrait and landscape painter, draughtsman, and printmaker. Along with his rival Sir Joshua Reynolds, he is considered one of the most important British artists of ...
,
John Crome
John Crome (22 December 176822 April 1821), once known as Old Crome to distinguish him from his artist son John Berney Crome, was an English landscape painter of the Romantic era, one of the principal artists and founding members of the Norw ...
and
John Constable, infused with an imaginative intensity of his own. Among English landscape painters of the latter part of the 19th century his is an outstanding name.
Family
In 1879 he married Constance Birnie Philip (1854–1929), a daughter (and eldest child) of the sculptor
John Birnie Philip
John Birnie Philip (23 November 1824 – 2 March 1875) was a nineteenth-century English sculptor. Much of his work was carried out for the architect Sir George Gilbert Scott.
Life
Philip was born in London, the son of William and Elizabeth Ph ...
, and settled at
Haslemere. Constance's eldest sister
Beatrix
Beatrix is a Latin feminine given name, most likely derived from ''Viatrix'', a feminine form of the Late Latin name ''Viator'' which meant "voyager, traveller" and later influenced in spelling by association with the Latin word ''beatus'' or "bles ...
later married
James McNeill Whistler in 1888, which would have made Lawson and Whistler brothers-in-law had Lawson lived. Constance and Cecil had one son, Cecil Constant Philip Lawson (1880–1967).
Work
File:A Hymn to Spring.jpg, ''A Hymn to Spring'', 1871. Oil on canvas.
File:Painting by Cecil Gordon Lawson (1851-1882), 'Strayed', oil-on-canvas, 1878 (26 x 24 inches).jpg, ''Strayed'', 1878. Oil on canvas, (26 x 24 inches).
File:Cecil Lawson Tree and cattle 1876.jpg, ''Kent landscape: Tree and Cattle'', 1876. Oil on canvas.
File:Battersea Reach Lawson.jpg, ''Battersea Reach'', Oil on canvas.
Notes
;Attribution
Further reading
*
Edmund Gosse
Sir Edmund William Gosse (; 21 September 184916 May 1928) was an English poet, author and critic. He was strictly brought up in a small Protestant sect, the Plymouth Brethren, but broke away sharply from that faith. His account of his childhoo ...
, ''Cecil Lawson, a Memoir'' (1883)
* Heseltine Owen, 'In Memoriam: Cecil Gordon Lawson', ''
Magazine of Art
A magazine is a periodical publication, generally published on a regular schedule (often weekly or monthly), containing a variety of content. They are generally financed by advertising, purchase price, prepaid subscriptions, or by a combination ...
'', 1894, pp. 1–6, 64–70.
* Donato Esposito, 'Cecil Gordon Lawson (1849–1882)', in ''Frederick Walker and the Idyllists'' (London: Lund Humphries, 2017), pp. 113–35.
Walking With the Ancestors
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lawson, Cecil Gordon
1849 births
1882 deaths
19th-century English painters
English male painters
19th-century English male artists