Henry Clark Pidgeon (1807–1880) was an English painter in water-colours and antiquary.

Life

Pigeon practised as an artist and teacher of drawing in London. In 1847 he moved to Liverpool, where he was professor of the school of drawing at the

Liverpool Institute The Liverpool Institute High School for Boys was an all-boys grammar school in the English port city of Liverpool. The school had its origins in 1825 but occupied different premises while the money was found to build a dedicated building on ...

, gave private lessons, and drew local scenes and antiquities. He became a member of the Liverpool Academy of Arts in 1847, and was its secretary in 1850. He was a non-resident member from then to the reconstruction of the academy in 1865. With Joseph Mayer and Abraham Hume, Pidgeon in 1848 founded the Historic Society of Lancashire and Cheshire. He and Hume were joint-secretaries till January 1851, when Pidgeon moved back to London. There he continued his practice as a painter and a teacher of art. He had been elected an associate of the

Institute of Painters in Water-colours The Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours (RI), initially called the New Society of Painters in Water Colours, is one of the societies in the Federation of British Artists, based in the Mall Galleries in London. History In 1831 the so ...

in 1846, and a full member in 1861. He was also president of the Sketching Club. Pidgeon died at University College Hospital, London on 6 August 1880, in his seventy-fourth year and was buried with his wife Jane, who died the same year, on the eastern side of Highgate Cemetery. Very little of their gravestone (plot no.23912) is now visible.

Works

Some fifty works by Pidgeon were hung at the Liverpool Academy's annual exhibitions. From 1838 he exhibited in London: four pictures at the

Royal Academy The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly in London. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its pur ...

, two at the

British Institution The British Institution (in full, the British Institution for Promoting the Fine Arts in the United Kingdom; founded 1805, disbanded 1867) was a private 19th-century society in London formed to exhibit the works of living and dead artists; it w ...

, and 15 at the Suffolk Street Gallery. He showed some twenty works at the Royal Manchester Institution, between 1841 and 1856. He contributed papers and drawings to the journals of the Archæological Institute, the

British Archæological Association The British Archaeological Association (BAA) was founded in 1843 and aims to inspire, support and disseminate high quality research in the fields of Western archaeology, art and architecture, primarily of the mediaeval period, through lectures, con ...

, and the Liverpool Literary and Philosophical Society. To Historic Society of Lancashire and Cheshire's publications he contributed etchings and lithographs. For the Great Exhibition of 1851, Pidgeon did an extensive series of illustrations for the '' Illustrated London News''.

Notes

;Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Pidgeon, Henry Clark 1807 births 1880 deaths Burials at Highgate Cemetery 19th-century English painters English male painters English watercolourists English antiquarians Historic Society of Lancashire and Cheshire 19th-century English male artists