William Callow (1812–1908) was an English
landscape painter
Landscape painting, also known as landscape art, is the depiction of natural scenery such as mountains, valleys, trees, rivers, and forests, especially where the main subject is a wide view—with its elements arranged into a coherent compos ...
,
engraver and
water colourist.
Career
Callow was born in
Greenwich
Greenwich ( , ,) is a town in south-east London, England, within the ceremonial county of Greater London. It is situated east-southeast of Charing Cross.
Greenwich is notable for its maritime history and for giving its name to the Greenwich ...
on 28 July 1812.
He was apprenticed to the artist
Copley Fielding
Anthony Vandyke Copley Fielding (22 November 1787 – 3 March 1855), commonly called Copley Fielding, was an English painter born in Sowerby, near Halifax, and famous for his watercolour landscapes. At an early age Fielding became a pup ...
, where he learnt the technique of ''
plein air
''En plein air'' (; French for 'outdoors'), or ''plein air'' painting, is the act of painting outdoors.
This method contrasts with studio painting or academic rules that might create a predetermined look. The theory of 'En plein air' painting ...
'' sketching. He went on to study under
Theodore
Theodore may refer to:
Places
* Theodore, Alabama, United States
* Theodore, Australian Capital Territory
* Theodore, Queensland, a town in the Shire of Banana, Australia
* Theodore, Saskatchewan, Canada
* Theodore Reservoir, a lake in Sask ...
and
Thales Fielding
Thales Fielding (1793–1837) was an English watercolour painter.
Life
Fielding was the third son of Nathan Theodore Fielding, and like his brothers is mainly known as a painter in watercolours. He was an associate exhibitor of the Royal Soci ...
, where he learnt to colour prints and make
aquatint
Aquatint is an intaglio printmaking technique, a variant of etching that produces areas of tone rather than lines. For this reason it has mostly been used in conjunction with etching, to give both lines and shaded tone. It has also been used h ...
s,
[Hargraves, p.184.] and was taught
water colour painting between 1825-7.
In 1829 Thales Fielding found him work as an engraver in Paris, where he worked alongside his friend
Charles Bentley. While in the French capital he was encouraged by
Thomas Shotter Boys to take up watercolours again.
After exhibiting a watercolour of ''Richmond Hill'' in the
Paris salon
The Salon (french: Salon), or rarely Paris Salon (French: ''Salon de Paris'' ), beginning in 1667 was the official art exhibition of the Académie des Beaux-Arts in Paris. Between 1748 and 1890 it was arguably the greatest annual or biennial art ...
of 1831, he was offered a job teaching the family of King
Louis Philippe I
Louis Philippe (6 October 1773 – 26 August 1850) was King of the French from 1830 to 1848, and the penultimate monarch of France.
As Louis Philippe, Duke of Chartres, he distinguished himself commanding troops during the Revolutionary War ...
of France, and for several years gave lessons to the
Duc de Nemours Duke of Nemours was a title in the Peerage of France. The name refers to Nemours in the Île-de-France region of north-central France.
History
In the 12th and 13th centuries, the Lordship of Nemours, in the Gatinais, France, was a possession of th ...
and
Princess Clémentine,
[ while his own works rapidly gained popularity in England.]Old Water-Colour Society
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 ...
, Callow returned to London in 1841 and began to paint larger pictures, moving away from the more "dashing" style of his earlier smaller works. He travelled extensively in France, the Netherlands
)
, anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau")
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands
, established_title = Before independence
, established_date = Spanish Netherl ...
, Belgium, Germany, Switzerland and Italy,[Macfall, p.64.] had a large number of pupils, and enjoyed favour with the royal family.[ He married one of his students, the artist and composer ]Harriet Anne Smart
Harriet Anne Smart Callow (October 20, 1817 - June 30, 1883) was a British artist and composer who is best remembered for her hymns and her paintings of the British countryside. Her works were published under the names Harriet Smart and H. A. Cal ...
, in 1846.
He kept detailed diaries of his early travels, and just before his death, his sight having failed, he dictated an autobiography.[Cundall and Callow, p.vi.] In 1855 he moved to Great Missenden
Great Missenden is an affluent village with approximately 2,000 residents in the Misbourne Valley in the Chiltern Hills in Buckinghamshire, England, situated between the towns of Amersham and Wendover, with direct rail connections to London Mary ...
, in Buckinghamshire, where he died in 1908.[
]
References
Bibliography
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Further reading
*
External links
Pictures from William Callow in the online database VIATIMAGES
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Callow, William
1812 births
1908 deaths
19th-century English painters
English male painters
20th-century English painters
Landscape artists
English watercolourists
People from Greenwich
20th-century English male artists
19th-century English male artists