Charles Wellington Furse (13 January 1868 – 16 October 1904) was an English painter. He was born at Staines, the son of Jane Diana (Monsell) and the Rev. C. W. Furse,

archdeacon of Westminster The Archdeacon of Westminster is a senior ecclesiastical officer within the Chapter of the Royal Peculiar of Westminster Abbey in London. The holder of the post oversees relationships with the twenty-four parishes of which the Dean and Chapter ar ...

, and rector of

St John's, Smith Square St John's Smith Square is a redundant church in the centre of Smith Square, Westminster, London. Sold to a charitable trust as a ruin following firebombing in the Second World War, it was restored as a concert hall. This Grade I listed ...

and descended collaterally from

Sir Joshua Reynolds Sir Joshua Reynolds (16 July 1723 – 23 February 1792) was an English painter, specialising in portraits. John Russell said he was one of the major European painters of the 18th century. He promoted the "Grand Style" in painting which depen ...

; and in his short span of life demonstrated such skill as a portrait and figure painter that he forms an important link in the chain of British portraiture which extends from the time when

Van Dyck Sir Anthony van Dyck (, many variant spellings; 22 March 1599 – 9 December 1641) was a Brabantian Flemish Baroque artist who became the leading court painter in England after success in the Southern Netherlands and Italy. The seventh ...

was called to the court of

Charles I Charles I may refer to: Kings and emperors * Charlemagne (742–814), numbered Charles I in the lists of Holy Roman Emperors and French kings * Charles I of Anjou (1226–1285), also king of Albania, Jerusalem, Naples and Sicily * Charles I of ...

into the 20th century. His talent was precocious; at the age of seven he gave indications of it in a number of drawings illustrating the novels of

Sir Walter Scott Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet (15 August 1771 – 21 September 1832), was a Scottish novelist, poet, playwright and historian. Many of his works remain classics of European and Scottish literature, notably the novels '' Ivanhoe'', '' Rob Roy' ...

. He attended public school at

Haileybury College Haileybury may refer to: Australia * Haileybury (Melbourne), a school in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia ** Haileybury Rendall School, an offshoot in Berrimah, North Territory, Australia China * Haileybury International School, an internatio ...

. He entered the

Slade School 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 ...

in 1884, winning the Slade scholarship in the following year, and completed his education at Julian's ''atelier'' in

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. Hard worker as he was, his activity was frequently interrupted by spells of illness, for he had developed signs of

consumption Consumption may refer to: *Resource consumption *Tuberculosis, an infectious disease, historically * Consumption (ecology), receipt of energy by consuming other organisms * Consumption (economics), the purchasing of newly produced goods for curren ...

whilst still attending the Slade School. An important canvas called ''Cain'' was his first contribution (1888) to the Royal Academy, to the associateship of which he was elected in the year of his death. For some years before he had been a staunch supporter of the

New English Art Club The New English Art Club (NEAC) was founded in London in 1885 as an alternative venue to the Royal Academy. It continues to hold an annual exhibition of paintings and drawings at the Mall Galleries in London, exhibiting works by both members and a ...

, to the exhibitions of which he was a regular contributor. In October 1900 he married Katharine Symonds, the daughter of John Addington Symonds. She later became known as Dame Katharine Furse. The couple had two sons, Peter Reynolds Furse (in 1901), a Royal Navy Cartographer, and John Paul Wellington Furse (in 1904), later a Rear Admiral, painter and later plant hunter. His fondness for sport and of an open-air life found expression in his art and introduced a new, fresh and vigorous note into portraiture. There is never a suggestion of the studio or of the fatiguing pose in his portraits. The sitters appear unconscious of being painted, and are generally seen in the pursuit of their favourite outdoor sport or pastime, in the full enjoyment of life. Such are the ''Diana of the Uplands'' (1903–04), the '' Lord Roberts'' (1893) and ''The Return from the Ride'' (1902) at 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 four children in the ''Cubbing with the York and Ainsty'', ''The Lilac Gown'', ''Mr. and Mrs. Oliver Fishing'' and the portraits of '' Lord Charles Beresford'' and ''

William Johnson Cory William Johnson Cory (9 January 1823 – 11 June 1892), born William Johnson, was an English educator and poet. He was dismissed from his post at Eton College, Eton for encouraging a culture of intimacy, possibly non-sexual, between teachers and ...

''. His revealing portrait of a younger Charles Darling who as Mr Justice Darling was later to sit on the criminal appeal of Sir

Roger Casement Roger David Casement ( ga, Ruairí Dáithí Mac Easmainn; 1 September 1864 – 3 August 1916), known as Sir Roger Casement, CMG, between 1911 and 1916, was a diplomat and Irish nationalist executed by the United Kingdom for treason during Worl ...

is in the National Portrait Gallery. Nearly all of Furse's work shows a pronounced decorative tendency. His sense of space, composition and decorative design can best be judged by his

mural A mural is any piece of graphic artwork that is painted or applied directly to a wall, ceiling or other permanent substrate. Mural techniques include fresco, mosaic, graffiti and marouflage. Word mural in art The word ''mural'' is a Spani ...

decorations for

Liverpool Town Hall Liverpool Town Hall stands in High Street at its junction with Dale Street, Castle Street, and Water Street in Liverpool, Merseyside, England. It is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade I listed build ...

, executed between 1899 and 1902. A memorial exhibition of Furse's paintings and sketches was held at the Burlington Fine Arts Club in 1906. His granddaughter was U.S. Congresswoman Elizabeth Furse.

References

External links

*
Profile on Royal Academy of Arts Collections
{{DEFAULTSORT:Furse, Charles Wellington 20th-century deaths from tuberculosis 19th-century English painters English male painters 20th-century English painters 1868 births 1904 deaths People from Staines-upon-Thames Associates of the Royal Academy 19th-century English male artists Tuberculosis deaths in England 20th-century English male artists