John Bryant Lane (1788–1868) was a Cornish painter.

Biography

Lane was born at

Helston Helston ( kw, Hellys) is a town and civil parish in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is situated at the northern end of the Lizard Peninsula approximately east of Penzance and south-west of Falmouth.Ordnance Survey: Landranger map shee ...

Cornwall Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic ...

in 1788, the son of Samuel Lane, chemist and excise-man, and Margaret Baldwin his wife. He was educated at Truro until he was fourteen when his taste for art was noticed by Francis Basset, 1st Baron de Dunstanville and Basset of Tehidy, who gave him the means to practise it in London. Lane was bestowed a

gold medal A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have bee ...

from the Society of Arts for an historical cartoon of ''The Angels Unbound''. In 1808 Lane exhibited 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 ...

an altarpiece for Lord de Dunstanville's church in Cornwall; in 1811 he produced ''Christ mocked by Pilate's Soldiers'' for Helston Guildhall, and in 1817 produced ''Eutychus'' for a church in London. Francis Basset Lane

In 1817 his patron sent Lane to

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

, where he remained for ten years, engaged on a gigantic picture, ''The Vision of Joseph'', which he refused to show during progress. At last he completed it, and exhibited it at Rome. As it was offensive to the papal authorities, they expelled the artist and his picture from the papal dominions. Lane then sent the picture to London, where he exhibited it in a room at the royal mews,

Charing Cross Charing Cross ( ) is a junction in Westminster, London, England, where six routes meet. Clockwise from north these are: the east side of Trafalgar Square leading to St Martin's Place and then Charing Cross Road; the Strand leading to the City; ...

. Its huge size attracted attention, but from an artistic point of view it was a failure. It was deposited in the

Pantechnicon A pantechnicon van was originally a furniture removal van drawn by horses and used by the British company "The Pantechnicon" for delivering and collecting furniture which its customers wished to store. The name is a word largely of British Engl ...

, where it mouldered to decay. Lane subsequently devoted himself to portrait-painting, and sent portraits occasionally to the Royal Academy. Among his sitters were Hussey Vivian, Davies Gilbert,

Charles Valentine Le Grice Charles Valentine Le Grice (1773–1858) was an Anglican priest, an associate of Charles Lamb and Samuel Taylor Coleridge, a squib writer, and a translator of Longus. Life Le Grice was born in Bury St. Edmunds to a clergyman father Charles Le Gr ...

, and Lord de Dunstanville. Lane died, unmarried, at 45 Clarendon Square, Somers Town, London, on 4 April 1868, aged 80.

References

;Attribution 19th-century English painters English male painters 1788 births 1868 deaths People from Helston Painters from Cornwall 19th-century English male artists {{England-painter-stub