William Bruce Ellis Ranken (11 April 1881 – 31 March 1941) was a British artist and Edwardian

aesthete Aestheticism (also the Aesthetic movement) was an art movement in the late 19th century which privileged the aesthetic value of literature, music and the arts over their socio-political functions. According to Aestheticism, art should be pr ...

. He was born in

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian on the southern shore of t ...

, Scotland, to Robert Burt Ranken, a wealthy and successful lawyer, and his wife Mary. He attended

Eton College Eton College () is a public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1440 by Henry VI under the name ''Kynge's College of Our Ladye of Eton besyde Windesore'',Nevill, p. 3 ff. intended as a sister institution to King's College, ...

and then proceeded to the

Slade School of Art The UCL Slade School of Fine Art (informally The Slade) is the art school of University College London (UCL) and is based in London, England. It has been ranked as the UK's top art and design educational institution. The school is organised as ...

, under the tutelage of

Henry Tonks Henry Tonks, FRCS (9 April 1862 – 8 January 1937) was a British surgeon and later draughtsman and painter of figure subjects, chiefly interiors, and a caricaturist. He became an influential art teacher. He was one of the first British arti ...

. A fellow student was the actor

Ernest Thesiger Ernest Frederic Graham Thesiger, CBE (15 January 1879 – 14 January 1961) was an English stage and film actor. He is noted for his performance as Doctor Septimus Pretorius in James Whale's film ''Bride of Frankenstein'' (1935). Biography ...

, who became a lifelong friend; he was painted by Ranken in 1918, and married Ranken's sister Janette Ranken in 1917. Ranken's first exhibition in 1904 at the Carfax Gallery (managed by John Fothergill and

William Rothenstein Sir William Rothenstein (29 January 1872 – 14 February 1945) was an English painter, printmaker, draughtsman, lecturer, and writer on art. Emerging during the early 1890s, Rothenstein continued to make art right up until his death. Though he c ...

) in London was well received by artists and art critics. He befriended

Wilfrid de Glehn Wilfrid Gabriel de Glehn (sometimes 'Wilfried') (1870 – 11 May 1951) was an Impressionist British painter, elected to the Royal Academy in 1932. Biography De Glehn's father was Alexander de Glenn of Sydenham, London, himself the son ...

and John Singer Sargent. At the outbreak of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, Ranken was living at his studio in Chelsea, a short distance from Sargent's studio, with whom he may have ventured to America during the war years.

Early success

While in America, Sargent introduced him to

Isabella Stewart Gardner Isabella Stewart Gardner (April 14, 1840 – July 17, 1924) was a leading American art collector, philanthropist, and patron of the arts. She founded the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston. Gardner possessed an energetic intellectual cu ...

, and he received commissions to paint portraits of the wealthy, including the Whitneys, Vanderbilts and Havermeyers. His output became prodigious as he worked in

watercolor 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 ...

s, oils and pastels. Returning to Britain in the 1920s, he painted many portraits of the British royal family and the aristocracy, as well as the interiors of their homes. In France during the First World War as a distraction from the trenches, he collected and repaired historical pieces of embroidery for sale with

who was invalided and, in 1917, married Ranken's sister, Janette Mary Fernie Ranken (1877-1970). In her biography of Thesiger's friend,

Ivy Compton-Burnett Dame Ivy Compton-Burnett, (; 5 June 188427 August 1969) was an English novelist, published in the original editions as I. Compton-Burnett. She was awarded the 1955 James Tait Black Memorial Prize for her novel ''Mother and Son''. Her works co ...

Hilary Spurling Susan Hilary Spurling CBE FRSL ( Forrest; born 25 December 1940) is a British writer, known for her work as a journalist and biographer. Early life and education Born at Stockport, Cheshire, to circuit judge Gilbert Alexander Forrest (1912–19 ...

suggests that Thesiger and Janette wed largely out of their mutual adoration of Ranken, who shaved his head when he learned of the engagement. On the other hand, it has been said that Janette Ranken was in love with Compton-Burnett's companion,

Margaret Jourdain Margaret Jourdain (15 August 1876 – 6 April 1951) was a prominent writer on English furniture and decoration. She began her career ghost-writing as Francis Lenygon for the firm of Lenygon & Morant, dealers in furnishings with a royal appointme ...

, a fellow Oxford student. Janette Ranken left Jourdain to marry Thesiger. Ranken purchased Warbrook House, Eversley, Hampshire, in 1918 after the success of his first visit to America. The maintenance and costs associated with the property proved to be too much in the depression of the early 1930s, and he was forced to give up his beloved house. Ranken died suddenly in London in 1941 and was buried near Warbrook, at St Mary (the church is off the A327 road, about 2 miles from the A30).

Public collections

Following his unexpected death from a cerebral haemorrhage, his sister Janette gifted over 200 works to be distributed amongst UK public galleries and museums. Ranken's paintings are held in a large number of museum and public collections, including

Southampton City Art Gallery The Southampton City Art Gallery is an art gallery in Southampton, southern England. It is located in the Civic Centre on Commercial Road. The gallery opened in 1939 with much of the initial funding from the gallery coming from two bequests, o ...

, Portsmouth Museum, Bradford Museum,

Reading Museum Reading Museum (run by the Reading Museum Service) is a museum of the history of the town of Reading, in the English county of Berkshire, and the surrounding area. It is accommodated within Reading Town Hall, and contains galleries describing th ...

Bristol Museum and Art Gallery Bristol Museum & Art Gallery is a large museum and art gallery in Bristol, England. The museum is situated in Clifton, about from the city centre. As part of Bristol Culture it is run by the Bristol City Council with no entrance fee. It holds ...

Northampton Museum Northampton Museum and Art Gallery is a public museum in Northampton, England. The museum is owned and run by West Northamptonshire Council and houses one of the largest collection of shoes in the world, with over 15,000 pairs,Derby Museum,

Leeds City Museum Leeds City Museum, originally established in 1819, reopened in 2008 in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It is housed in the former Mechanics' Institute built by Cuthbert Brodrick, in Cookridge Street (now Millennium Square). It is one of nine ...

National Museums Northern Ireland National Museums Northern Ireland (NMNI) (formerly ''National Museums and Galleries of Northern Ireland'') is a museum service in Northern Ireland, consisting of the Ulster American Folk Park, the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum and the Ulster M ...

, Glasgow Museums, City of Edinburgh Council and the

Government Art Collection The Government Art Collection (GAC) is the collection of artworks owned by the UK government and administered by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS). The GAC's artworks are used to decorate major government buildings in t ...

Works

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ranken, William Bruce Ellis Scottish artists 20th-century British painters British male painters Artists from Edinburgh 1881 births 1941 deaths People educated at Eton College Alumni of the Slade School of Fine Art 20th-century British male artists