William Hemsley (London 1817 or 1819 – 24 December 1906 London) was a British artist who specialised in genre paintings.

Biography

William was born in London, the son of architect William Whitfield Hemsley (1796–1867) and Caroline Amelia Hemsley, née Jones (1797–1872). He was sent away to preparatory school in Brighton at a young age, and began to develop an interest in art through painting portraits as a teenager. Upon his return to London, he began to train in his father's profession and found employment as a drawing clerk in the office of John Crake. However, he continued to be drawn to art, and left early in his career in order to paint professionally. He began to exhibit at artistic societies, and his works were regularly reported upon in ''

The Art Journal ''The Art Journal'' was the most important British 19th-century magazine on art. It was founded in 1839 by Hodgson & Graves, print publishers, 6 Pall Mall, with the title ''Art Union Monthly Journal'' (or ''The Art Union''), the first issue of 7 ...

''. Hemsley's technique was compared to the Dutch style, but attention was also drawn to his "love for fun." Many of his works depicted rustic domestic scenes, leading to him being described as "pre-eminently the painter of cottage life." In 1859, Hemsley was elected to 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 ...

, and served as the vice president of the organisation, which later became the Royal Society of British Artists (RBA), for many years. He was also a steward of the

Artists' General Benevolent Institution The Artists' General Benevolent Institution is a British charity assisting professional artists in England, Wales and Northern Ireland who are in financial difficulty due to illness, old age or accident. It was founded in 1814 by members of the Ro ...

. For most of his adult life, Hemsley resided in London, including at 5 Marlborough Street, and at addresses in

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

and

South Kensington South Kensington, nicknamed Little Paris, is a district just west of Central London in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Historically it settled on part of the scattered Middlesex village of Brompton. Its name was supplanted with ...

. He also undertook numerous study trips abroad, including to France and Holland. He died on 24 December 1906, aged 89, at the home of his youngest son in south London, Walter Howard Hemsley (d. 1912). He was buried at

Brompton Cemetery Brompton Cemetery (originally the West of London and Westminster Cemetery) is a London cemetery, managed by The Royal Parks, in West Brompton in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. It is one of the Magnificent Seven cemeteries. Establ ...

in west London.

Exhibitions

Between the years of 1848 and 1880, Hemsley exhibited 120 works in major London exhibitions, at the Royal Academy, the British Institute and the

' Suffolk Street gallery. A number of his paintings were featured at the

1862 International Exhibition The International Exhibition of 1862, or Great London Exposition, was a world's fair. It was held from 1 May to 1 November 1862, beside the gardens of the Royal Horticultural Society, South Kensington, London, England, on a site that now houses ...

and the Exposition universelle de 1867, world's fairs held in London and Paris respectively, as well as at other British galleries including

Manchester Art Gallery Manchester Art Gallery, formerly Manchester City Art Gallery, is a publicly owned art museum on Mosley Street in Manchester city centre. The main gallery premises were built for a learned society in 1823 and today its collection occupies three ...

and Liverpool's

Walker Art Gallery The Walker Art Gallery is an art gallery in Liverpool, which houses one of the largest art collections in England outside London. It is part of the National Museums Liverpool group. History of the Gallery The Walker Art Gallery's collection ...

. Prints, usually

wood-engraving Wood engraving is a printmaking technique, in which an artist works an image or ''matrix'' of images into a block of wood. Functionally a variety of woodcut, it uses relief printing, where the artist applies ink to the face of the block and ...

s, after his paintings appeared in the ''

Illustrated London News ''The Illustrated London News'' appeared first on Saturday 14 May 1842, as the world's first illustrated weekly news magazine. Founded by Herbert Ingram, it appeared weekly until 1971, then less frequently thereafter, and ceased publication i ...

'', ''

Illustrated News of the World An illustration is a decoration, interpretation or visual explanation of a text, concept or process, designed for integration in print and digital published media, such as posters, flyers, magazines, books, teaching materials, animations, vid ...

'', and ''

''. Today, Hemsley's paintings can be found at the

Wellcome Library The Wellcome Library is founded on the collection formed by Sir Henry Wellcome (1853–1936), whose personal wealth allowed him to create one of the most ambitious collections of the 20th century. Henry Wellcome's interest was the history of me ...

in London, and as part of public collections in Bath, Birkenhead, Hull, Leeds, Southport, and Wolverhampton.

Selected paintings

William Hemsley - A sham.jpg, A Sham William Hemsley Divided attention.jpg, Divided Attention William Hemsley Porridge.jpg, Porridge The young dentist. Oil painting by William Hemsley. Wellcome V0017180.jpg, The Young Dentist William Hemsley The young poacher 1874.jpg, The Young Poacher

References

External links

*
William Hemsley at Suffolk Painters
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hemsley, William 19th-century English painters English male painters 1819 births 1906 deaths Painters from London British genre painters Members of the Royal Society of British Artists 19th-century English male artists