William Henry Margetson (London December 18612 January 1940) was a British painter and illustrator, mainly known for his aesthetic portraits of women.

Life and work

Margetson was born at

Camberwell Camberwell () is a district of South London, England, in the London Borough of Southwark, southeast of Charing Cross. Camberwell was first a village associated with the church of St Giles and a common of which Goose Green is a remnant. This e ...

, London. He studied at

Dulwich College Dulwich College is a 2–19 independent, day and boarding school for boys in Dulwich, London, England. As a public school, it began as the College of God's Gift, founded in 1619 by Elizabethan actor Edward Alleyn, with the original purpose of ...

, and later at the

Royal College of Art The Royal College of Art (RCA) is a public research university in London, United Kingdom, with campuses in South Kensington, Battersea and White City. It is the only entirely postgraduate art and design university in the United Kingdom. It offe ...

and the

Royal Academy Schools 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 purpo ...

. In 1885 he first exhibited at the Royal Academy, and later also at the Royal Society of British Artists, the

Royal Institute of Oil Painters The Royal Institute of Oil Painters, also known as ROI, is an association of painters in London, England, and is the only major art society which features work done only in oil. It is a member society of the Federation of British Artists. Histor ...

and the

Grosvenor Gallery The Grosvenor Gallery was an art gallery in London founded in 1877 by Sir Coutts Lindsay and his wife Blanche. Its first directors were J. Comyns Carr and Charles Hallé. The gallery proved crucial to the Aesthetic Movement because it prov ...

. In late 1885 he won the Armitage Medal for his studies at the RA, which is now in the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

. Margetson painted in oils and watercolours. He made his name with portraits of beautiful women, often with modern hairstyles and hats. He also created religious and allegorical artworks. To begin with he worked in an academic, Victorian style. Later he would use a looser brushstyle inspired by the

post-impressionists Post-Impressionism (also spelled Postimpressionism) was a predominantly French art movement that developed roughly between 1886 and 1905, from the last Impressionist exhibition to the birth of Fauvism. Post-Impressionism emerged as a reaction aga ...

and the pre-raphaelites, and in particular

Lawrence Alma-Tadema Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema, (; born Lourens Alma Tadema ; 8 January 1836 – 25 June 1912) was a Dutch painter who later settled in the United Kingdom becoming the last officially recognised denizen in 1873. Born in Dronryp, the Netherlands, ...

. His most successful work was the classically decorative ''The Sea Hath its Pearls'' which he exhibited in 1897 at the Royal Academy, now in the possession of the

Art Gallery of New South Wales The Art Gallery of New South Wales (AGNSW), founded as the New South Wales Academy of Art in 1872 and known as the National Art Gallery of New South Wales between 1883 and 1958, is located in The Domain, Sydney, Australia. It is the most importa ...

, in Australia. A portrait of

Alfred Tennyson Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson (6 August 1809 – 6 October 1892) was an English poet. He was the Poet Laureate during much of Queen Victoria's reign. In 1829, Tennyson was awarded the Chancellor's Gold Medal at Cambridge for one of his ...

by Margetson is in the National Portrait Gallery in London. Margetson also worked as an illustrator of books. He was married to the artist Helen Hatton, who he met when they worked on an illustration project together. He lived and worked first in London and later in

Blewbury Blewbury is a village and civil parish at the foot of the Berkshire Downs section of the North Wessex Downs about south of Didcot, south of Oxford and west of London. It was part of Berkshire until the 1974 boundary changes transferred it ...

and Wallingford. He died in

Wallingford, Oxfordshire Wallingford () is a historic market town and civil parish located between Oxford and Reading on the River Thames in England. Although belonging to the historic county of Berkshire, it is within the ceremonial county of Oxfordshire for adminis ...

, in 1940, at the age of 78.

Gallery

File:The Sea Hath its Pearls 1897 - William Henry Margetson.jpg, The Sea Hath its Pearls File:William Henry Margetson The Seashore 1900.jpg, The seashore File:William Henry Margetson A summer evening.jpg, A Summer Evening File:Poseidon's mistress on the shore.jpg, Poseidon's mistress on the shore File:Margetson William Henry At The Cottage Door.jpg, At The Cottage Door File:William henry margetson a new day.jpg, A New Day File:William Henry Margetson A stitch in time 1915.jpg, A Stitch in Time File:William Henry Margetson Girl by a Lock.jpg, Girl by a Lock File:Cinderella and the Fairy Godmother.jpg, Cinderella and the Fairy Godmother File:Margetson faith.jpg, Faith File:William Henry Margetson The Amulet.Jpeg, The Amulet File:Williamhenry-margetson nora.jpg, Nora File:Margetson tennyson.jpg, Alfred Lord Tennyson File:Helen hatton.jpg, Helen Hatton File:She was known to have studied magic while she was being brought up in the nunnery.png, Morgan le Fay from Margetson's illustrations for ''The Legends of King Arthur and His Knights'' (1908)

References

External links

Margetson on Artists and Art
*

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Margetson, William Henry 1860 births 1940 deaths 19th-century British painters 20th-century British painters Alumni of the Royal Academy Schools Alumni of the Royal College of Art Artists from London English painters Academic art English illustrators British male painters People educated at Dulwich College People of the Victorian era People from Camberwell People from Blewbury English children's book illustrators Members of the Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours 19th-century British male artists 20th-century British male artists