William Shayer (1787–1879) 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 ...

and figure painter who became prominent during the

Victorian era In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the period of Queen Victoria's reign, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. The era followed the Georgian period and preceded the Edwardia ...

Life and career

William Joseph Shayer, senior was born on June 1787, in

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

. He was a self-taught artist, who began by painting decorations on rush-bottom chairs. He then moved on to painting carriages in the town of

Guildford Guildford () is a town in west Surrey, around southwest of central London. As of the 2011 census, the town has a population of about 77,000 and is the seat of the wider Borough of Guildford, which had around inhabitants in . The name "Guildf ...

, after which he started doing heraldic painting. Ultimately, he began painting

oil on canvas Oil painting is the process of painting with pigments with a medium of drying oil as the binder. It has been the most common technique for artistic painting on wood panel or canvas for several centuries, spreading from Europe to the rest of ...

and became skilled at portraying woodland scenes with gypsies, people and animals in front of country inns and farm houses, and beach scenes crowded with boats and fishermen. He lived mainly in the south of England, in

Shirley, Southampton Shirley is a broad district and a former village on the western side of Southampton, England. Shirley's main roles are retailing and residential. It is the most important suburban shopping area in the west of the city. Housing is a mixture of co ...

, but painted throughout

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English citi ...

and in a wooded district in the southwest part of Hampshire called the

New Forest The New Forest is one of the largest remaining tracts of unenclosed pasture land, heathland and forest in Southern England, covering southwest Hampshire and southeast Wiltshire. It was proclaimed a royal forest by William the Conqueror, featu ...

. Michael Hoy, a wealthy Southampton merchant, was one of his most enthusiastic patrons and bought many of Shayer's paintings of the area. He sometimes collaborated with other artists. Particularly successful were his collaborations with

Edward Charles Williams Edward Charles Williams (10 July 1807 – 25 July 1881) was an English landscape painter during the Victorian Era, and a member of the Williams family of painters. Early life, family and education Edward Charles Williams was born in Lond ...

, where Williams would paint the landscape and Shayer would add in people and animals. He also collaborated with other members of Williams' family, Shayer's second wife Elizabeth Waller said to somehow be related to Williams. ''The Old Roadside Inn'' that is shown here is one example of a collaboration between Shayer and Williams, and ''Near Wantage, Berkshire'' is another. Shayer was a competent landscape artist, but he is best known as a figure painter. His work is reminiscent in some respects to the paintings of

George Morland George Morland (26 June 176329 October 1804) was an English painter. His early work was influenced by Francis Wheatley, but after the 1790s he came into his own style. His best compositions focus on rustic scenes: farms and hunting; smugglers a ...

, another very popular figure painter. Shayer's work though has a depth and brightness to it missing from the paintings of many of his contemporaries, due to his skillful application of glaze (i.e., spreading a thin, oily, transparent layer of paint over a dry opaque paint). He exhibited at 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 ...

(6 works), the

British Institution The British Institution (in full, the British Institution for Promoting the Fine Arts in the United Kingdom; founded 1805, disbanded 1867) was a private 19th-century society in London formed to exhibit the works of living and dead artists; it w ...

(82 works), and at the Suffolk Street Gallery of the

Society of British Artists The Royal Society of British Artists (RBA) is a British art body established in 1823 as the Society of British Artists, as an alternative to the Royal Academy. History The RBA commenced with twenty-seven members, and took until 1876 to reach fif ...

(338 works). He also exhibited in many of the lesser-known Victorian art venues as well. His works are on display at many museums, including the

Victoria and Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (often abbreviated as the V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.27 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and nam ...

, 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 ...

, the

Glasgow Art Gallery Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum is a museum and art gallery in Glasgow, Scotland. It reopened in 2006 after a three-year refurbishment and since then has been one of Scotland's most popular visitor attractions. The museum has 22 galleries, h ...

, and the New York

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...

. Shayer lived a long life, during which he had two wives and ten children. His eldest son, William Joseph Shayer, junior (1811-1892), was also a painter, and painted in a style very similar to his father. Their paintings are easily confused, which is made all the more difficult by the fact that they probably collaborated on several paintings in the elder Shayer's later years. Three of Shayer senior's younger sons – Edward Dasherwood Shayer (1821-1864), Henry Thring Shayer (1825-1894) and Charles Walker Shayer (1826-1914) – became painters at well, and all assisted him at times in his studio. William Shayer, senior died at the age of 92 on 21 December 1879 at his home at Bladon Lodge near Southampton.See the listing for "William Shayer" in ''England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1858-1966,'' and in ''England & Wales, FreeBMD Death Index: 1837-1915''. Both available online a
www.ancestry.com
Retrieved 19 Oct 2012.

Paintings

Some examples of William Shayer's work. Image:William Shayer - Scene in the Isle of Wight 1823.jpg, William Shayer
''Scene in the Isle of Wight'', 1823 File:William Shayer - Scene Near Zeldkirch in the Tyrol.jpg, William Shayer
''Scene Near Zeldkirch in the Tyrol'' File:William Shayer - The Start of the Day.jpg, William Shayer
''The Start of the Day''

Notes

References

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External links

* *''Fisherfolk on the Hampshire Coast'' a
Cider House Galleries
*William Shayer biography a
Sphinx Fine Art
*''Biography and paintings of William Shayer, snr'' a
World Classic Gallery
*William Shayer paintings in British Museums o
Art UK
*William Shayer paintings o
Wikipaintings
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shayer, William 1787 births 1879 deaths 19th-century English painters English male painters Landscape artists 19th-century English male artists