Samuel Redgrave (3 October 1802,

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

- 20 March 1876

) was an English civil servant and writer on art.

Life

He was eldest son of William Redgrave, and brother of

Richard Redgrave Richard Redgrave (30 April 1804 in Pimlico, London – 14 December 1888 in Kensington, London) was an English landscape artist, genre painter and administrator. Early life He was born in Pimlico, London, at 2 Belgrave Terrace, the second son o ...

, and was born at 9 Upper Eaton Street, Pimlico, London. When about 14 years old he obtained a clerkship at the Home Office, and in his leisure time studied French, German, and Spanish, and practised

watercolour painting 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 ...

and architectural drawing. He was admitted in 1833 as an architectural student of the Royal Academy. He subsequently received a permanent appointment at the Home Office, and worked on the registration of criminal offences. In 1836 he acted as secretary to the constabulary force commission, and in May 1839 became assistant private secretary to

Lord John Russell John Russell, 1st Earl Russell, (18 August 1792 – 28 May 1878), known by his courtesy title Lord John Russell before 1861, was a British Whig and Liberal statesman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1846 to 1852 and a ...

, and then to

Fox Maule Fox Maule-Ramsay, 11th Earl of Dalhousie, (22 April 18016 July 1874), known as Fox Maule before 1852, as The Lord Panmure between 1852 and 1860, was a British politician. Ancestry Dalhousie was the eldest son of William Maule, 1st Baron Pa ...

, until September 1841. Later, from December 1852 to February 1856, he was private secretary to Henry Fitzroy. He retired from public service in 1860, and devoted the rest of his life to art. He had been secretary to the Etching Club since 1842, and knew leading artists. At the International Exhibition of 1862 the watercolour gallery was arranged by him, and the loan collection of miniatures exhibited at the South Kensington Museum in 1865 was under his management. His efforts contributed to the National Portrait exhibitions of 1866, 1867, and 1868, and the gallery of British art in the Paris International Exhibition of 1867 was under his direction. He also acted as secretary to the committee which carried out the exhibitions of the works of old masters and deceased British artists held at the Royal Academy from 1870, but then retired on the appointment of a lay secretary to the Academy in 1873. Redgrave died at 17 Hyde Park Gate South, London in 1876, and was buried in the churchyard of

Holy Trinity, Brompton Holy Trinity Brompton with St Paul's, Onslow Square and St Augustine's, South Kensington, often referred to simply as HTB, is an Anglicanism, Anglican church (building), church in London, England. The church consists of six sites: HTB Brompton ...

Works

During the tenure of the Home Office by

Sir George Grey Sir George Grey, KCB (14 April 1812 – 19 September 1898) was a British soldier, explorer, colonial administrator and writer. He served in a succession of governing positions: Governor of South Australia, twice Governor of New Zealand, Go ...

he prepared under direction a volume entitled ''Some Account of the Powers, Authorities, and Duties of Her Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for the Home Department'', which was printed for official use in 1852. This work led him to compile ''Murray's Official Handbook of Church and State'', which was published in 1852 and again in 1855. His first contribution to the literature of art was ''A Century of Painters of the British School'', written with his brother Richard, and first published in 1866. This was followed in 1874 by his ''Dictionary of Artists of the English School'', and in 1877 by a ''Descriptive Catalogue of the Historical Collection of Water-colour Paintings in the South Kensington Museum'', on which he was engaged at the time of his death. He also compiled the ''Catalogue of the Loan Exhibition of Fans'', 1870, which was followed by ''Fans of all Countries'', a folio volume issued in 1871, and he assisted in the compilation of the ''Catalogue of the Paintings, Miniatures, &c., bequeathed to the South Kensington Museum by the Rev. Alexander Dyce'' (1874).

References

* ;Attribution

External links

A Dictionary of Artists of the English School: Painters, Sculptors, Architects, Engravers and...
on ''archive.org'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Redgrave, Samuel 1802 births 1876 deaths English biographers Art writers