Marshall Claxton (12 May 1811 – 28 July 1881) was an English

subject Subject ( la, subiectus "lying beneath") may refer to: Philosophy *''Hypokeimenon'', or ''subiectum'', in metaphysics, the "internal", non-objective being of a thing **Subject (philosophy), a being that has subjective experiences, subjective cons ...

, genre, landscape and portrait painter.

Life

Claxton was born in Bolton, Lancashire, the son of a Wesleyan Methodist minister, the Rev. Marshall Claxton, and his wife Diana. Marshall studied under

John Jackson John or Johnny Jackson may refer to: Entertainment Art * John Baptist Jackson (1701–1780), British artist * John Jackson (painter) (1778–1831), British painter * John Jackson (engraver) (1801–1848), English wood engraver * John Richardson ...

, R.A., and 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 ...

school where he enrolled on 26 April 1831. He had his first picture in the Royal Academy in 1832, a portrait of his father. In subsequent years about 30 of his pictures were shown at Academy exhibitions. In 1834 he was awarded the first medal in the painting school, and obtained the gold medal of the Society of Arts in 1835 for his portrait of Sir Astley Cooper. From 1837 to 1842 he worked in Italy and then returned to London, gaining a prize of £100 for his "Alfred the Great in the Camp of the Danes". In 1850 Claxton went to Sydney, Australia, with a large collection of pictures, but had little success in selling them. While in Sydney he painted a large picture, "Suffer little children to come unto me", a commission from the

Baroness Burdett-Coutts Baron is a rank of nobility or title of honour, often hereditary, in various European countries, either current or historical. The female equivalent is baroness. Typically, the title denotes an aristocrat who ranks higher than a lord or k ...

. This was described in ''

Household Words ''Household Words'' was an English weekly magazine edited by Charles Dickens in the 1850s. It took its name from the line in Shakespeare's ''Henry V'': "Familiar in his mouth as household words." History During the planning stages, titles origi ...

'' as 'the first important picture' painted in Australia.Macmillan, David S., 'Claxton, Marshall (1813–1881)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University
accessed 22 August 2011
In September 1854 Claxton left Sydney for Calcutta, where he sold several of his pictures. He returned to England in 1858 via Egypt, and died in London after a long illness on 28 July 1881. He married and had two daughters, Adelaide and

Florence Claxton Florence Ann Claxton (26 August 1838 – 3 May 1920), later Farrington, was a British artist and humorist, most notable for her satire on the Pre-Raphaelite movement. Claxton also wrote and illustrated many humorous commentaries on contemporar ...

, both of whom were artists and represented in Royal Academy exhibitions between 1859 and 1867. Claxton's "General View of the Harbour and City of Sydney" is in the Royal collection in England, and there are two pictures by him in the Dickinson collection in the

Art Gallery of New South Wales The Art Gallery of New South Wales (AGNSW), founded as the New South Wales Academy of Art in 1872 and known as the National Art Gallery of New South Wales between 1883 and 1958, is located in The Domain, Sydney, Australia. It is the most importa ...

, Sydney. His portraits of

Bishop William Broughton William Grant Broughton (22 May 178820 February 1853) was an Anglican bishop. He was the first (and only) Bishop of Australia of the Church of England. The then Diocese of Australia, has become the Anglican Church of Australia and is divided ...

and

Dean Cowper William Macquarie Cowper (known in his youth as Macquarie; 3 July 1810 – 14 June 1902) was an Australian Anglican archdeacon and Dean of Sydney. Cowper was born in Sydney, the son of the Revd William Cowper, assistant colonial chaplain, and hi ...

are at St. Paul's College, University of Sydney, and that of the Rev. Robert Forrest is exhibited at The King's School, Parramatta. His Godiva painting is in the

Herbert Art Gallery Herbert Art Gallery & Museum (also known as the Herbert) is a museum, art gallery, records archive, learning centre, media studio and creative arts facility on Jordan Well, Coventry, England. Overview The museum is named after Sir Alfred Herb ...

and he also has work displayed at the

Derby Art Gallery Derby Museum and Art Gallery is a museum and Art museum, art gallery in Derby, England. It was established in 1879, along with Derby Central Library, in a new building designed by Richard Knill Freeman and given to Derby by Michael Thomas Bass. ...

and the Victoria and Albert Museum.Marshall Claxton
BBC, accessed August 2011 He was also known for his depictions of Wesleyan and Methodist subjects, made popular as prints.

Sources

*Macmillan, David S.

''

Australian Dictionary of Biography The ''Australian Dictionary of Biography'' (ADB or AuDB) is a national co-operative enterprise founded and maintained by the Australian National University (ANU) to produce authoritative biographical articles on eminent people in Australia's ...

'', Volume 3, MUP, 1969, pp 424–425. *

External links

Claxton online
(ArtCyclopedia) {{DEFAULTSORT:Claxton, Marshall 1811 births 1881 deaths 19th-century English painters English male painters British genre painters English portrait painters Landscape artists People from Bolton 19th-century English male artists

Life

Sources

Further reading

External links