George Adolphus Storey (

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

7 January 1834 – 29 July 1919) was an English portrait painter, genre painter and illustrator.

Life

Storey was born in London and was privately educated attending Morden Hall School in Surrey.https://mertonhistoricalsociety.org.uk/morden/18th-and-19th-century-morden/ Merton Historical Society He continued his education in Paris and on returning to London, he worked briefly for an architect before studying under J. M. Leigh and J.L. Dulong. Though not a pupil he was also encouraged by William Behnes the sculptor, whose studio he visited. 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 ...

from 1852 and studied at the Royal Academy schools from 1854. He was strongly influenced by the

Pre-Raphaelites The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood (later known as the Pre-Raphaelites) was a group of English painters, poets, and art critics, founded in 1848 by William Holman Hunt, John Everett Millais, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, William Michael Rossetti, James ...

but gave them up under influence of Charles Robert Leslie. Storey worked in North London, establishing a reputation as a genre and portrait painter, and also as an illustrator. He drew elegant pictures of middle-class people for love stories and the like. Storey became ARA in 1875 and was a member of the Arts Club from 1874–95. He exhibited at 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 ...

, the

Royal 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 ...

Suffolk Street 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 fi ...

and the

New Watercolour Society The Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours (RI), initially called the New Society of Painters in Water Colours, is one of the societies in the Federation of British Artists, based in the Mall Galleries in London. History In 1831 the so ...

. He also published his autobiography in 1899, containing valuable information about the

St John's Wood Clique The St John's Wood Clique was a group of Victorian artists who mostly lived in the St John's Wood area of London. Their ideas were broadly similar to an earlier group also called The Clique. The principal members of the group were Philip Hermogene ...

, of which he was a member until he moved to

Hampstead Hampstead () is an area in London, which lies northwest of Charing Cross, and extends from Watling Street, the A5 road (Roman Watling Street) to Hampstead Heath, a large, hilly expanse of parkland. The area forms the northwest part of the Lon ...

. From 1900, he was also the Professor of Perspective at the Royal Academy, and became RA in 1914. Storey moved in the same artistic circles as

James McNeill Whistler James Abbott McNeill Whistler (; July 10, 1834July 17, 1903) was an American painter active during the American Gilded Age and based primarily in the United Kingdom. He eschewed sentimentality and moral allusion in painting and was a leading pr ...

, with whom he was well acquainted. He also recalled being patted on head by

Charles Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian e ...

and became godfather to

E. H. W. Meyerstein Edward Harry William Meyerstein (11 August 1889 – 12 September 1952) was an English writer and scholar. He wrote poetry and short stories, and a ''Life of Thomas Chatterton''. Early life and education Meyerstein was born in Hampstead, London ...

. He is interred at the

Hampstead Cemetery Hampstead Cemetery is a historic cemetery in West Hampstead, London, located at the upper extremity of the NW6 district. Despite the name, the cemetery is three-quarters of a mile from Hampstead Village, and bears a different postcode. It is j ...

Works in public galleries

*Sketch for '' The Bride's Burial'' circa 1859 Tate Gallery *''My Father'' 1868 Tate Gallery *''Grandmamma's Christmas Visitors'' 1873

Weston Park Museum Weston Park Museum is a museum in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. It is one mile west of Sheffield city centre within Weston Park. It is Sheffield's largest museum and is housed in a Grade II* listed building and managed by Museums Sheffie ...

, Sheffield *''My Mother'' 1874 Tate Gallery *''The Violinist'' 1886 Guildhall Art Gallery

Bibliography

* ''Sketches from Memory'', 1899 * ''The Theory and Practice of Perspective'', 1910 George Adolphus Storey by J

]

References

*Wood, Christopher, The Dictionary of Victorian Artists, 2nd ed., revised, Woodbridge, 1978
Whistler Arts galleryTate Gallery Catalogue

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Storey, George Adolphus 1834 births 1919 deaths 19th-century English painters English male painters 20th-century English painters British genre painters English watercolourists English portrait painters Royal Academicians 20th-century English male artists 19th-century English male artists