John Henry Frederick Bacon - The golden butterfly - The Harvey family

John Henry Frederick Bacon (4 November 1865, in

Kennington Kennington is a district in south London, England. It is mainly within the London Borough of Lambeth, running along the boundary with the London Borough of Southwark, a boundary which can be discerned from the early medieval period between the ...

– 24 January 1914) was a British painter and illustrator of genre works, history and bible scenes, and

portraits A portrait is a painting, photograph, sculpture, or other artistic representation of a person, in which the face and its expressions are predominant. The intent is to display the likeness, personality, and even the mood of the person. For this re ...

.Obituary
(The Connoisseur, volume 38, 1914).

Life and work

Born in Kennington on 4 November 1865, Bacon was the second son of the

lithographer Lithography () is a planographic method of printing originally based on the immiscibility of oil and water. The printing is from a stone (lithographic limestone) or a metal plate with a smooth surface. It was invented in 1796 by the German a ...

John Cardanall Bacon, and showed artistic talent from a young age. He trained at the Westminster School of Art 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 ...

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 ...

. In his teens he acquired a reputation as an outstanding black-and-white illustrator, and at the age of 18 set off on a professional tour of

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

and

Burma Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...

. On his return to England, in 1889, Bacon exhibited ''The Village Green'' and ''Nevermore'' at the Royal Academy and was a regular exhibitor from then on. He was a successful painter of religious works, such as ''Peace be unto you'' (1897), ''Gethsemane'' (1899); historical scenes, such as ''Homage giving, Westminster Abbey'' (for the coronation of

Edward VII Edward VII (Albert Edward; 9 November 1841 – 6 May 1910) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and Emperor of India, from 22 January 1901 until his death in 1910. The second child and eldest son of Queen Victoria an ...

), ''The Coronation ceremony of George V'' (1911), ''The City of London Imperial Volunteers Return to London from South Africa on Monday 29th October 1900'', as well as portraiture and genre scenes – such as ''A Wedding Morning'', (1892) ''A Confession of Love'' (1894) and ''Rivals'' (1904). He was an Associate of 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 ...

(ARA) and was awarded the MVO (Member of the Royal Victorian Order) for distinguished service to the King. Bacon illustrated books as well as magazines and periodicals. Bacon married in 1894 and took up residence at "Pillar House" in

Harwell Harwell may refer to: People * Harwell (surname) * Harwell Hamilton Harris (1903–1990), American architect Places * Harwell, Nottinghamshire, England, a hamlet *Harwell, Oxfordshire, England, a village **RAF Harwell, a World War II RAF airfield, ...

Berkshire Berkshire ( ; in the 17th century sometimes spelt phonetically as Barkeshire; abbreviated Berks.) is a historic county in South East England. One of the home counties, Berkshire was recognised by Queen Elizabeth II as the Royal County of Berk ...

(now in

Oxfordshire Oxfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the north west of South East England. It is a mainly rural county, with its largest settlement being the city of Oxford. The county is a centre of research and development, primarily ...

). He had 7 children. He died of acute bronchitis on 24 January 1914, aged 48.

Selected works

File:The Relief of Ladysmith by John Henry Frederick Bacon.jpg, '' Relief of Ladysmith'' depicting Sir George Stuart White greeting Major

Hubert Gough General Sir Hubert de la Poer Gough ( ; 12 August 1870 – 18 March 1963) was a senior officer in the British Army in the First World War. A favourite of the British Commander-in-Chief, Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig, he experienced a meteoric ...

on 28 February 1900 File:John Henry Frederick Bacon - The wedding morning.jpg, ''The Wedding Morning'' (

Lady Lever Art Gallery The Lady Lever Art Gallery is a museum founded and built by the industrialist and philanthropist William Lever, 1st Viscount Leverhulme and opened in 1922. The Lady Lever Art Gallery is set in the garden village of Port Sunlight, on the Wirral ...

''Portrait of Michael Lewis Myers'', 1906
(

Tate Britain Tate Britain, known from 1897 to 1932 as the National Gallery of British Art and from 1932 to 2000 as the Tate Gallery, is an art museum on Millbank in the City of Westminster in London, England. It is part of the Tate network of galleries in ...

)

Illustrated books (selected)

*Harden, Beatrice. ''Things Will Take a Turn'' (1894) *Clarke, H. ''The Ravensworth Scholarship'' (1895) *Craik, Mrs. ''John Halifax, Gentleman'' (1899) *Dickens, Charles. ''Dombey and Son'' and ''Little Dorrit''. (1902) *Everett-Green, Evelyn. ''Priscilla'' (1900) * Hawthorne, Nathaniel. ''The Scarlet Letter and the House of the Seven Gables'' (1904) *Fitcher, W. H. ''The King's Empire'' (1906) *Hughes, Thomas. ''Tom Brown's School Days'' (1906) *Ebbutt, Maud Isabel.
Hero-myths & Legends of the British Race
' (New York: T.Y. Crowell & Company, 1910). *Squire, Charles
''Celtic Myth and Legend, Poetry & Romance''
(London: Gresham). * Dickens, Charles. '' Little Dorrit'' (Gresham, 1912) *Everett-Green, Evelyn. ''Esther's Charge'' (1912) *Nesbit, E. and Doris Ashley. ''Children's Stories from English History'' (1914)

Illustrated periodicals (selected)

Black and White, Cassell's Family Magazine, The Girl's Own Paper, The Ludgate Monthly, The Quiver, The Windsor Magazine.

Notes

External links

* *
John Henry Frederick Bacon on artnetWorks by J. H. F. Bacon
(Bridgeman Art Library)
Bacon, John Henry Frederick, 1868–1914
(Art UK)
Photo of J H F Bacon
(National Portrait Gallery)

(short biography)

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bacon, John Henry Frederick 1868 births 1914 deaths 19th-century English painters English male painters 20th-century English painters British genre painters English portrait painters 19th-century painters of historical subjects Associates of the Royal Academy Alumni of the Royal Academy Schools Members of the Royal Victorian Order Deaths from bronchitis 20th-century English male artists 19th-century English male artists