Joseph Vickers de Ville (1856–1925) was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

painter Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ai ...

landscape A landscape is the visible features of an area of land, its landforms, and how they integrate with natural or man-made features, often considered in terms of their aesthetic appeal.''New Oxford American Dictionary''. A landscape includes the ...

s and rural subjects.

Life and work

Joseph Vickers de Ville was a son of the farmers Joseph and Mary Deville. He was born in Eaton,

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southern end of the Pennine range of hills and part of the National Forest. It borders Greater Manchester to the nor ...

, but is considered a Wolverhampton artist, as he moved to

Wolverhampton Wolverhampton () is a city, metropolitan borough and administrative centre in the West Midlands, England. The population size has increased by 5.7%, from around 249,500 in 2011 to 263,700 in 2021. People from the city are called "Wulfrunian ...

by 1881, together with his widowed mother and brothers Richard and John. In the 1880s, his address was Osborne Cottage, Sweetman Street, Wolverhampton, but later he moved to

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, a suburb of Wolverhampton. Vickers de Ville was not professionally trained and did not consider himself a professional artist, however, his artistic gift was recognised and appreciated. In Compton, he maintained a studio in Tettenhall Wood. From 1887, he 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 ...

. Between 1876-1920, sixty eight his works were shown at the

Royal Birmingham Society of Artists The Royal Birmingham Society of Artists or RBSA is an art society, based in the Jewellery Quarter in Birmingham, England, where it owns and operates an art gallery, the RBSA Gallery, on Brook Street, just off St Paul's Square. It is both a re ...

, a full member of which he was elected in 1917. He also exhibited at the

Royal Institute of Oil Painters The Royal Institute of Oil Painters, also known as ROI, is an association of painters in London, England, and is the only major art society which features work done only in oil. It is a member society of the Federation of British Artists. Histor ...

Fine Art Society The Fine Art Society is a gallery based in both London and in Edinburgh's New Town (originally Bourne Fine Art, established 1978). The New Bond Street, London gallery closed its doors in August 2018 after being occupied by The Fine Art Society si ...

, The Royal Glasgow Institute for the Fine Arts,

Royal Scottish Academy The Royal Scottish Academy (RSA) is the country’s national academy of art. It promotes contemporary Scottish art. The Academy was founded in 1826 by eleven artists meeting in Edinburgh. Originally named the Scottish Academy, it became the ...

, and at the Salons in Paris. Vickers de Ville worked in both oils and watercolours. His favourite subject was

North Wales , area_land_km2 = 6,172 , postal_code_type = Postcode , postal_code = LL, CH, SY , image_map1 = Wales North Wales locator map.svg , map_caption1 = Six principal areas of Wales common ...

where ''"he first obtained his inspiration amid the grand and imposing scenery"'', with particular inclination to coastal landscapes and streams and rivers, and investigation of light effects in open air. It was noticed that ''"few can rival him in depicting torrent, rock, river and trees."'' His landscapes of the

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, Malvern,

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and

Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation Staffs.) is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. It borders Cheshire to the northwest, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, Warwickshire to the southeast, the West Midlands Cou ...

are also well known. Often they expressed the mood of melancholy and solitude, like his painting 'The Moonlight' which was to illustrate

Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. Beethoven remains one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music; his works rank amongst the most performed of the classical ...

's 'Moonlight Sonata'. Vickers de Ville's personal exhibition was successfully held at

Wolverhampton Art Gallery Wolverhampton Art Gallery is located in the City of Wolverhampton, in the West Midlands, United Kingdom. The building was funded and constructed by local contractor Philip Horsman (1825–1890), and built on land provided by the municipal auth ...

in 1915. It presented sixty-four paintings and numerous sketches, many of which were loaned by Scottish, Liverpool and London patrons. The exhibition was favourably reviewed and it was particularly mentioned that ''"a great many of his pictures are in the United States, and others have found owners in France, Germany and South America. Most of them were bought by Americans. The demand from abroad is one of the reasons why Wolverhampton people have been able to see so little of his work."'' In 1923, there was another exhibition of his drawings.Wolverhampton Archives and Local Studies. WOL-C-AGPL/1. P.51. January 1923. Exhibition of drawings by Vickers de Ville. A number of paintings by Vickers de Ville have been preserved at Wolverhampton Art Gallery. His works also can be found at McLean Museum and Art Gallery,

Greenock Greenock (; sco, Greenock; gd, Grianaig, ) is a town and administrative centre in the Inverclyde council areas of Scotland, council area in Scotland, United Kingdom and a former burgh of barony, burgh within the Counties of Scotland, historic ...

, Sheffield Museum and Art Gallery and other public and private collections. Little is known about de Ville's personal life. He married in 1894, and with his wife Mary had at least one child - the son Claude (born in 1895). The 1901 census also shows the daughter Gladys, born in about 1886, which is well before their marriage.

References

Bibliography

Algernon Graves Algernon Graves (London 1845–1922 London) was a British art historian and art dealer, who specialised in the documentation of the exhibition and sale of works of art. He created reference sources that began the modern discipline of provenance r ...

, ''The Royal Academy of Arts. A Complete Dictionary of Contributors''. Vol.1 * Morris S. and Morris K. ''A Catalogue of Birmingham & West Midlands Painters of the Nineteenth Century''. 1974. * Grant M. Waters. ''Dictionary of British Artists Working 1900-1950''. 1975. {{DEFAULTSORT:Vickers De Ville, Joseph 19th-century English painters English male painters 20th-century English painters 1856 births 1925 deaths Artists from Wolverhampton 20th-century English male artists 19th-century English male artists