Robert Braithwaite Martineau (19 January 1826 – 13 February 1869) was an English painter.

Life

Martineau was the son of Elizabeth Batty and Philip Martineau, a Master in Chancery. Through his mother, he was the grandson of Robert Batty, M.D. (1763–1849), physician and amateur painter. Martineau attended Colfes school for a few years at the age of 15. He first trained as a lawyer and later entered 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 ...

where he was awarded a silver medal. He studied under

Pre-Raphaelite The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood (later known as the Pre-Raphaelites) was a group of English painters, poets, and art critics, founded in 1848 by William Holman Hunt, John Everett Millais, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, William Michael Rossetti, James ...

artist

William Holman Hunt William Holman Hunt (2 April 1827 – 7 September 1910) was an English painter and one of the founders of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. His paintings were notable for their great attention to detail, vivid colour, and elaborate symbolism. ...

and once shared a studio with him. He died at the age of 43. In 1865, he married Maria Wheeler and had two children with her. His most famous painting, '' The Last Day in the Old Home'', portrays the household of a feckless squire after gambling away his family's inheritance. The man portrayed is Colonel John Leslie Toke (1839–1911) who was a friend of Martineau and was painted at his country home,

Godinton House Godinton House (also known as Godinton House and Gardens or Godinton Park) is a stately home in the parish of Great Chart, owned by a non-profit-making trust. It is north-west of the centreof the town of Ashford, Kent, UK. Description Godi ...

in Ashford, Kent. In an odd way life came to imitate art, for J L Toke inherited the house in 1866 but lost it after four hundred years of the Toke family living there. The painting can be seen at the

Tate Gallery Tate is an institution that houses, in a network of four art galleries, the United Kingdom's national collection of British art, and international modern and contemporary art. It is not a government institution, but its main sponsor is the U ...

London London is the capital and 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 down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. Other paintings were bequeathed to the

Ashmolean Museum The Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology () on Beaumont Street, Oxford, England, is Britain's first public museum. Its first building was erected in 1678–1683 to house the cabinet of curiosities that Elias Ashmole gave to the University of ...

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

and Liverpool Art Gallery by his daughter Helen. Other less well known paintings include ''Kit's First Writing Lesson'' and ''Picciola''. Martineau was buried in Kensal Green Cemetery.

Works

* ''Picciola'', Tate, 1853. * ''The Spelling Lesson'', Paris, Musée d'Orsay, circa 1856.

Notes

References

Bibliography

* Christoph Newall, ''La Leçon d'orthographe'', La Revue du Musée d'Orsay, n° 21 autommne 2005, p. 20-25.

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Martineau, Robert 1826 births 1869 deaths 19th-century English painters English male painters Alumni of the Royal Academy Schools Artists' Rifles soldiers Pre-Raphaelite painters 19th-century English male artists