Myles Birket Foster by Elliott & Fry 1860s (cropped)

Myles Birket Foster (4 February 1825 – 27 March 1899) was a British

illustrator An illustrator is an artist who specializes in enhancing writing or elucidating concepts by providing a visual representation that corresponds to the content of the associated text or idea. The illustration may be intended to clarify complicat ...

watercolourist Watercolor (American English) or watercolour (British English; see spelling differences), also ''aquarelle'' (; from Italian diminutive of Latin ''aqua'' "water"), is a painting method”Watercolor may be as old as art itself, going back to t ...

and engraver in the

Victorian period In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the period of Queen Victoria's reign, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. The era followed the Georgian period and preceded the Edwardian ...

. His name is also to be found as Myles Birkett Foster.

Life and work

Foster was born in North Shields, England of a primarily Quaker family, but his family moved south to London in 1830, where his father founded M. B. Foster & sons — a successful beer-bottling company. He was schooled at

Hitchin Hitchin () is a market town and unparished area in the North Hertfordshire Districts of England, district in Hertfordshire, England, with an estimated population of 35,842. History Hitchin is first noted as the central place of the Hicce peopl ...

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is one of the home counties in southern England. It borders Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire to the north, Essex to the east, Greater London to the south, and Buckinghamshire to the west. For govern ...

The Times Wednesday 29 March 1899 and on leaving initially went into his father's business. However, noticing his talent for art, his father secured an apprenticeship with the wood-engraver,

Ebenezer Landells Ebenezer Landells (Newcastle 1808 – 1 October 1860 London) was a British wood-engraver, illustrator, and magazine proprietor. Life Born in Newcastle, Landells was apprenticed to the wood-engraver Thomas Bewick. In 1829 he moved to London, ...

, where he worked on illustrations for ''

Punch Punch commonly refers to: * Punch (combat), a strike made using the hand closed into a fist * Punch (drink), a wide assortment of drinks, non-alcoholic or alcoholic, generally containing fruit or fruit juice Punch may also refer to: Places * Pun ...

'' magazine and the '' Illustrated London News''. Foster's boss was one of the founders of Punch, and for him was tasked to make and draw woodcuts, which were crafted with great finesse. Rural scenes taken from travels with his brother and friend Edmund Evans, could be supplemented by popular sporting events such as the early Oxford and Cambridge boat races. Landells was working from

Fleet Street Fleet Street is a major street mostly in the City of London. It runs west to east from Temple Bar at the boundary with the City of Westminster to Ludgate Circus at the site of the London Wall and the River Fleet from which the street was na ...

when in July 1846 a famous image of

Tynemouth Priory Tynemouth Castle is located on a rocky headland (known as Pen Bal Crag), overlooking Tynemouth Pier. The moated castle-towers, gatehouse and keep are combined with the ruins of the Benedictine priory where early kings of Northumbria were buried ...

appeared with Birket Foster's own name; his apprenticeship had come to a conclusion. Myles Birket Foster2

On leaving Landells' employ, he continued to produce work for the ''Illustrated London News'' and the '' Illustrated London Almanack'', landing his first exhibition at the Suffolk Street Art Gallery, Westminster during the year 1843. His famous image of "A Christmas Holly Cart" was used by the new traders of seasonal cards, and included in the Illustrated London News by the end of 1848. He also found work as a book illustrator and, during the 1850s, trained himself to paint in

watercolours Watercolor (American English) or watercolour (British English; see spelling differences), also ''aquarelle'' (; from Italian diminutive of Latin ''aqua'' "water"), is a painting method”Watercolor may be as old as art itself, going back to ...

. His illustrations of

Longfellow Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (February 27, 1807 – March 24, 1882) was an American poet and educator. His original works include "Paul Revere's Ride", ''The Song of Hiawatha'', and ''Evangeline''. He was the first American to completely transl ...

’s '' Evangeline'' and books of poetry by other contemporaries were a great success, and he quickly became a successful

artist An artist is a person engaged in an activity related to creating art, practicing the arts, or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse refers to a practitioner in the visual arts only. However, th ...

in watercolours. He married for the first time on 13 August 1850, a young Geordie woman, and a cousin. Anne, the daughter of Robert Spence of North Shields, was descended from Robert Foster of Hebblethwaite Hall. They hailed from the hilltop gentry farming stock. Bringing a dowry and money to London, the newly-wed couple moved into a salubrious address on the edge of London at Marsden Villa, Clifton Road, on Clifton Hill in the fashionable district of

St Johns Wood St John's Wood is a district in the City of Westminster, London, lying 2.5 miles (4 km) northwest of Charing Cross. Traditionally the northern part of the ancient parish and Metropolitan Borough of Marylebone, it extends east to west f ...

. Foster's parents were residing nearby transforming the northern family into thoroughgoing Londoners. Birket Foster became an Associate of the "Old" Watercolour Society (later the

Royal Watercolour Society The Royal Watercolour Society is a British institution of painters working in watercolours. The Society is a centre of excellence for water-based media on paper, which allows for a diverse and interesting range of approaches to the medium of wa ...

) in 1860 and exhibited some 400 of his paintings 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 ...

over more than 2 decades. Birket Foster travelled widely, painting the countryside around

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

, the

Rhine ), Surselva, Graubünden, Switzerland , source1_coordinates= , source1_elevation = , source2 = Rein Posteriur/Hinterrhein , source2_location = Paradies Glacier, Graubünden, Switzerland , source2_coordinates= , so ...

Valley, the

Swiss Swiss may refer to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina *Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses *Swiss-system tournament, in various games and sports *Swiss Internation ...

lakes and in

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

, especially

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...

. In 1863 he moved to

Witley Witley is a village and civil parish in the Borough of Waverley in Surrey, England centred south west of the town of Godalming and southwest of Guildford. The land is a mixture of rural (ranging from woodland protected by the Surrey Hills AO ...

, near

Godalming Godalming is a market town and civil parish in southwest Surrey, England, around southwest of central London. It is in the Borough of Waverley, at the confluence of the Rivers Wey and Ock. The civil parish covers and includes the settleme ...

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...

where he had an elaborate

Tudor-style Tudor Revival architecture (also known as mock Tudor in the UK) first manifested itself in domestic architecture in the United Kingdom in the latter half of the 19th century. Based on revival of aspects that were perceived as Tudor architecture ...

house ("The Hill") built. Being friendly with Edward Burne-Jones and

William Morris William Morris (24 March 1834 – 3 October 1896) was a British textile designer, poet, artist, novelist, architectural conservationist, printer, translator and socialist activist associated with the British Arts and Crafts Movement. He ...

, he had the house decorated and furnished in contemporary style, with tiles and paintings by Burne-Jones and Morris' firm, Morris and Company. The same year he published a volume of "English Landscapes," with text by

Tom Taylor Tom Taylor (19 October 1817 – 12 July 1880) was an English dramatist, critic, biographer, public servant, and editor of ''Punch'' magazine. Taylor had a brief academic career, holding the professorship of English literature and language a ...

. Although he had painted great numbers of landscape scenes from

to the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the e ...

, it was after moving to Witley that Birket Foster produced the works for which he is best known—a sentimentalised view of the contemporary English countryside, particularly in the west Surrey area. Although criticised for their idealised view of rural life, they were recognised for their detail and execution. Birket Foster's work (along with that of other artists) was used by Cadburys, the chocolate manufacturer, on the cover of their chocolate boxes from the 1860s onwards. Printed in 1861, ''The Carewes: a tale of the Civil Wars'' was the swashbuckling royalist family history of a gentry on the edge of Windsor Forest, illustrated with fine images and a dashing flourish; it was much appreciated in America. "the dainty water-colour drawings executed...appeal to the majority of the British public more than the works of any other." So wrote H.M. Cundall in 1906 in the preface to a first biography. He became ill in 1893 and moved to

Weybridge Weybridge () is a town in the Borough of Elmbridge in Surrey, England, around southwest of central London. The settlement is recorded as ''Waigebrugge'' and ''Weibrugge'' in the 7th century and the name derives from a crossing point of the ...

. He continued painting, but died on 27 March 1899. His obituary in ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...

'' referred to him as "certainly the most popular water-colour artist of our time". He is buried at

All Saints' Church All Saints Church, or All Saints' Church or variations on the name may refer to: Albania *All Saints' Church, Himarë Australia *All Saints Church, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory * All Saints Anglican Church, Henley Brook, Western Austr ...

in Witley.

Friends and family

As well as Edward Burne-Jones and William Morris, his artist friends and associates included

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), ...

, Charles Keene and

William Quiller Orchardson Sir William Quiller Orchardson (27 March 1832 – 13 April 1910) was a noted Scottish portraitist and painter of domestic and historical subjects who was knighted in June 1907, at the age of 75. Early years Orchardson was born in Edinburgh, ...

. In 1864, he married Frances, the daughter of Dawson Watson, and sister of the artist

John Dawson Watson John Dawson Watson (20 May 1832 – 3 January 1892) was a British painter, watercolorist, and illustrator. He was educated King Edward VI Grammar School, Sedbergh School and Manchester School of Design. His son was the Impressionist paint ...

. Their eldest son, also called Myles Birket Foster (1851–1922), was an organist and composer who studied at the

Royal College of Music The Royal College of Music is a music school, conservatoire established by royal charter in 1882, located in South Kensington, London, UK. It offers training from the Undergraduate education, undergraduate to the Doctorate, doctoral level in a ...

with Sullivan, Prout and

Frederick Westlake Frederick Westlake (Romsey, Hampshire, 25 February 1840 - London, 12 February 1898) was English pianist and composer. Westlake studied at the Royal Academy of Music The Royal Academy of Music (RAM) in London, England, is the oldest conserv ...

. He was organist and choirmaster in

Marylebone Marylebone (usually , also , ) is a district in the West End of London, in the City of Westminster. Oxford Street, Europe's busiest shopping street, forms its southern boundary. An Civil parish#Ancient parishes, ancient parish and latterly a ...

and at the Foundling Hospital Chapel among other places, and music director at the publisher

Boosey & Hawkes Boosey & Hawkes is a British music publisher purported to be the largest specialist classical music publisher in the world. Until 2003, it was also a major manufacturer of brass, string and woodwind musical instruments. Formed in 1930 throu ...

. He composed symphonies, overtures, children's cantatas, a string quartet, trios and church music, and wrote a ''History of the Philharmonic Society'' (1913).Leach, Gerald. ''British Composer Profiles'', 3rd ed. (2012), p. 87

References

Bibliography

;Illustrated by Foster: * Beattie, James, ''The Minstrel; or, The Progress of Genisus'', (George Routledge, 1858) *Cowper, William, ''The Task; A Poem'', (James Nisbet & Co, 1855) * Falconer, William, ''The Shipwreck; A Poem'', (T. Nelson, 1887) *Foster, Myles Birket.
Beauties of English Landscape
' (Routledge, Warne & Routledge, 1862). * Gillies, Mary.
The Carewes: A Tale of the Civil Wars
' (W. Kent & Co, 1861). *Gray, Thomas, ''The Poetical Works of Thomas Gray'', (Bickers & Son, 1859) *Miller, Thomas, ''Common Wayside Flowers'', (George Routledge, 1860) *Taylor, Tom.
Birket Foster's pictures of English landscape
' (George Routledge & sons, 1874). *Wordsworth, William.
The Deserted Cottage
' (George Routledge & Co., 1859). *Wordsworth, William.
Poetical Works
' (G. Routledge, 1858). ;About Foster: *Cundall, Herbert Minton.
Birket Foster, R. W. S
' (A & C Black, 1906); with colour plates. *Cundall, Herbert Minton.
Birket Foster, sixteen examples in colour of the artist's work
' (A. & C. Black, 1910). *Lewis, Frank. ''Birket Foster'' (Leigh on Sea: Lewis, 1973). *Reynolds, Jan. ''Myles Birket Foster'' (London: Batsford, 1984).

Life and work

Friends and family

References

Bibliography

External links