Paul Jacob Naftel (10 September 1817 – 13 September 1891) was a

watercolour 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 ...

painter from

Guernsey Guernsey (; Guernésiais: ''Guernési''; french: Guernesey) is an island in the English Channel off the coast of Normandy that is part of the Bailiwick of Guernsey, a British Crown Dependency. It is the second largest of the Channel Islands ...

, the only Guernsey-born professional painter of the 19th century.

Biography

Naftel was born on 10 September 1817 in Guernsey. He was a self-taught artist and taught drawing at Elizabeth College on Guernsey. Naftel was extremely prolific, producing over 1000 works during his lifetime. He came to particular prominence when he recorded

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 21 ...

's visit to Guernsey in 1846, with the resulting prints published in ''

The Illustrated London News ''The Illustrated London News'' appeared first on Saturday 14 May 1842, as the world's first illustrated weekly news magazine. Founded by Herbert Ingram, it appeared weekly until 1971, then less frequently thereafter, and ceased publication in ...

''. In 1856 he was elected to the

Society of Painters in Water Colours 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 wat ...

. He married twice. His second wife, Isabel Oakley, was an artist and the youngest daughter of his longtime friend

Octavius Oakley Octavius Oakley RWS (27 April 1800, in Bermondsey – 1 March 1867, in London), was a British watercolour portrait, figure and landscape artist. Life Oakley was born in Bermondsey, London on the 27th April 1800. Initially he worked for a ...

. Naftel's second marriage produced two sons and a daughter including

Maud Naftel Maud Naftel (1856–1890) was a British watercolourist. Life Naftel was born in 1856, the daughter of Isabel Oakley and Paul Jacob Naftel who were both watercolour painters. She has been reported as an only child but it is thought that another ...

(1856–1890) who was also a successful artist.Paul Jacob Naftel, theislandwiki.org
/ref> Naftel moved to London in 1870, where he had a highly successful solo exhibition at the gallery of the

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 ...

. At his art studio in

Chelsea, London Chelsea is an affluent area in west London, England, due south-west of Charing Cross by approximately 2.5 miles. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames and for postal purposes is part of the south-western postal area. Chelsea histori ...

he taught Rose Maynard Barton and

Mildred Anne Butler Mildred Anne Butler (11 January 1858 – 11 October 1941) was an Irish artist, who worked in watercolour and oil of landscape, genre and animal subjects. Butler was born and spent most of her life in Kilmurry, Thomastown, County Kilkenny and ...

. He died in Strawberry Hill near London on 13 September 1891.

References

1817 births 1891 deaths Guernsey artists 19th-century British artists British watercolourists 19th-century British painters British male painters 19th-century British male artists {{Europe-artist-stub