Walter Severn (12 October 1830 – 22 September 1904), professionally a civil servant, was known as an English water-colour artist.

Life

Severn was born in Frascati, near Rome, the eldest son of

Joseph Severn Joseph Severn (7 December 1793 – 3 August 1879) was an English portrait and subject painter and a personal friend of the famous English poet John Keats. He exhibited portraits, Italian genre, literary and biblical subjects, and a selec ...

and his wife Elizabeth, daughter of Archibald, Lord Montgomerie. His brother Arthur became a landscape painter; his sister Ann Mary became a portrait painter, and married the archaeologist

Charles Thomas Newton Sir Charles Thomas Newton (16 September 1816 – 28 November 1894) was a British archaeologist. He was made KCB in 1887. Life He was born in 1816, the second son of Newton Dickinson Hand Newton, vicar of Clungunford, Shropshire, and afterw ...

. Walter was sent in 1843 with his brother Arthur to

Westminster School (God Gives the Increase) , established = Earliest records date from the 14th century, refounded in 1560 , type = Public school Independent day and boarding school , religion = Church of England , head_label = Hea ...

, and from an early age showed a fondness for art. In 1852 he entered the

Civil Service The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil servants hired on professional merit rather than appointed or elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leaders ...

, and was for thirty-three years an officer in the education department. Meanwhile, he took a lively interest in varied branches of art. In 1857, with his friend

Charles Eastlake Charles Locke Eastlake (11 March 1836 – 20 November 1906) was a British architect and furniture designer. His uncle, Sir Charles Lock Eastlake PRA (born in 1793), was a Keeper of the National Gallery, from 1843 to 1847, and from 1855 its fi ...

, he started the making of art furniture. In 1865 he made a vigorous effort to resuscitate the almost forgotten craft of art needlework and embroidery, for skill in which he earned medals in South Kensington and much encouragement from

John Ruskin John Ruskin (8 February 1819 20 January 1900) was an English writer, philosopher, art critic and polymath of the Victorian era. He wrote on subjects as varied as geology, architecture, myth, ornithology, literature, education, botany and politi ...

. His leisure was chiefly devoted to landscape painting in water-colours. Fifty of his water-colours were exhibited in 1874 at Agnew's Gallery in Bond Street. The most popular of his works, ''Our Boys'', circulated widely in an engraving. He made illustrations for Lord Houghton's poem ''Good Night and Good Morning'' in 1859; he illustrated ''The Golden Calendar'' (c.1864) and ''The Order for Morning and Evening Prayer'' (1873).

Dudley Gallery Art Society

In 1865 Severn instituted the Dudley Gallery Art Society. The Old Water Colour Society had lately rejected his brother Arthur when he applied for membership. The

Institute of Painters in Water Colours The Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours (RI), initially called the New Society of Painters in Water Colours, is one of the societies in the Federation of British Artists, based in the Mall Galleries in London. History In 1831 the so ...

also seemed to Severn too exclusive. He accordingly called a meeting of fifty artists at his brother's house, when

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 ...

, art critic of ''

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 ...

'', took the chair, and the Dudley Gallery Art Society was the outcome. Exhibitions were held annually at the Egyptian Hall in Piccadilly until its demolition in 1909, when they were continued in the new building erected on the site of the hall. The artists who sent pictures included

Albert Albert may refer to: Companies * Albert (supermarket), a supermarket chain in the Czech Republic * Albert Heijn, a supermarket chain in the Netherlands * Albert Market, a street market in The Gambia * Albert Productions, a record label * Albert ...

and

Henry Moore Henry Spencer Moore (30 July 1898 – 31 August 1986) was an English artist. He is best known for his semi- abstract monumental bronze sculptures which are located around the world as public works of art. As well as sculpture, Moore produced ...

, George Dunlop Leslie, Edward Burne-Jones, and

George Frederic Watts George Frederic Watts (23 February 1817, in London – 1 July 1904) was a British painter and sculptor associated with the Symbolist movement. He said "I paint ideas, not things." Watts became famous in his lifetime for his allegorical work ...

. The merit of the Dudley Society's exhibitions led the Institute of Painters in Water Colours in 1883 to elect several of its members ''en bloc'', including Severn's brother Arthur, but not himself. Severn was elected president of the Dudley Society in 1883, and held office until his death on 22 September 1904 at Earl's Court Square.

Family

He married in 1866 Mary Dalrymple, daughter of

Sir Charles Dalrymple Fergusson, 5th Baronet Sir Charles Dalrymple Fergusson, 5th Baronet of Kilkerran FRSE (1800–1849) was a Scottish lawyer. Life He was born at Fort George in Inverness-shire on 26 August 1800. He was the eldest son of Sir James Fergusson, 4th Baronet, fourth baro ...

, and they had five sons and one daughter. Their son Claud Severn became a colonial administrator.

References

Attribution *

External links

''A Stag Hunt'' (1858) by Walter Severn
at the

Royal Collection Trust The Royal Collection of the British royal family is the largest private art collection in the world. Spread among 13 occupied and historic royal residences in the United Kingdom, the collection is owned by King Charles III and overseen by the ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Severn, Walter 1830 births 1904 deaths People educated at Westminster School, London 19th-century English painters English watercolourists 19th-century British civil servants