Edgar Longstaffe (1852 – 7 December 1933) was a well-known English landscape painter of 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 ...

Longstaffe was born near

Derby Derby ( ) is a city and unitary authority area in Derbyshire, England. It lies on the banks of the River Derwent in the south of Derbyshire, which is in the East Midlands Region. It was traditionally the county town of Derbyshire. Derby g ...

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southern end of the Pennine range of hills and part of the National Forest. It borders Greater Manchester to the nor ...

, England. The son of a doctor, he married and moved to

Newport, Essex Newport is a large village in Essex near Saffron Walden. The village has a population of over 2,000, measured at 2,352 at the 2011 census. Located approximately 41 miles (66 kilometres) north of London, the village is situated amongst the a ...

. During the 1880s he exhibited five times at the Royal Academy and at the Royal Hibernian Academy and at Birmingham. A prolific painter, many of his original works, most commonly signed with a monogram but sometimes initialed 'E.L.' or signed 'E Longstaffe', must be in existence today. He was for some years on the staff of Messrs Raphael Tuck & Sons, being sent by them to all the principal beauty spots of the

British Isles The British Isles are a group of islands in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-western coast of continental Europe, consisting of the islands of Great Britain, Ireland, the Isle of Man, the Inner and Outer Hebrides, the Northern Isles, ...

to obtain sketches for reproduction work in the earlier days of the art picture

postcard A postcard or post card is a piece of thick paper or thin cardboard, typically rectangular, intended for writing and mailing without an envelope. Non-rectangular shapes may also be used but are rare. There are novelty exceptions, such as wood ...

. He was especially fond of portraying the scenery of the

Scottish Highlands The Highlands ( sco, the Hielands; gd, a’ Ghàidhealtachd , 'the place of the Gaels') is a historical region of Scotland. Culturally, the Highlands and the Lowlands diverged from the Late Middle Ages into the modern period, when Lowland S ...

, often with cattle, and he excelled in the painting of water. Large numbers of vintage postcards featuring Longstaffe's artwork remain in existence and are frequently to be found in online auctions. Later in life he moved to

Laindon Laindon is a commuter town in Essex, between Basildon and West Horndon. It was an ancient parish in Essex, England, that was abolished for civil purposes in 1937. It was based on the (probably smaller) manor of the same name and now lies mostly ...

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and Grea ...

where he lived for 25 years. He was buried alongside his wife in

churchyard. His son Ernest Longstaffe went on to become a famous composer and producer.

References

* 1852 births 1933 deaths 19th-century English painters English male painters 20th-century English painters People from Laindon People from Derby People from Newport, Essex 19th-century English male artists 20th-century English male artists Burials in Essex {{England-painter-stub