Alfred Borron Clay
Encyclopedia
Alfred Borron Clay was an English painter.
Clay was born 3 June 1831 at Walton
, near Preston, Lancashire, the second son of the Rev. John Clay, chaplain of Preston gaol, and Henrietta Fielding, his wife. He was educated at the Preston grammar school, but also received instruction from his father. Clay was intended for the legal profession, and was articled to a solicitor at Preston, but having great love of art decided on quitting his profession and becoming a painter.
A portrait of his mother removing the doubts of his parents as to the advisability of this step, he went to Liverpool to study in 1852, and later in the same year became a student of the Royal Academy
in London. In 1854 he exhibited for the first time, sending to the British Institution
'Finishing Bleak House
,' and to the Royal Academy 'Nora Creina' and 'Margaret Ramsay;' in 1855 he sent to the Royal Academy a portrait of his father, and continued to contribute to the same exhibition regularly up to the time of his death.
The chief pictures painted by him were 'The Imprisonment of Mary Queen of Scots at Lochleven Castle,' exhibited in 1861; 'Charles IX
and the French Court at the Massacre of St. Bartholomew,' exhibited in 1865; and 'The Return to Whitehall
, 29 May 1660,' exhibited in 1807, and now in the Walker Gallery at Liverpool. This was his last work of importance, as his health failed about this time, and he died at Rainhill
, near Liverpool, on 1 October 1868, aged 37. On 9 April 1856 he married Elizabeth Jane Fayrer, who survived him, and by whom he left a family.
Clay was born 3 June 1831 at Walton
Walton
-People:* Walton family, connected to Wal-Mart* The Waltons, an American television series centered on the fictitious eponymous family* The Walton sextuplets, the world's first all-female surviving sextuplets, born in 1983-United Kingdom:*Walton, Aylesbury...
, near Preston, Lancashire, the second son of the Rev. John Clay, chaplain of Preston gaol, and Henrietta Fielding, his wife. He was educated at the Preston grammar school, but also received instruction from his father. Clay was intended for the legal profession, and was articled to a solicitor at Preston, but having great love of art decided on quitting his profession and becoming a painter.
A portrait of his mother removing the doubts of his parents as to the advisability of this step, he went to Liverpool to study in 1852, and later in the same year became a student of the Royal Academy
Royal Academy
The Royal Academy of Arts is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly, London. The Royal Academy of Arts has a unique position in being an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects whose purpose is to promote the creation, enjoyment and...
in London. In 1854 he exhibited for the first time, sending to the British Institution
British Institution
The British Institution was a private 19th-century society in London formed to exhibit the works of living and dead artists; it was also known as the Pall Mall Picture Galleries or the British Gallery...
'Finishing Bleak House
Bleak House
Bleak House is the ninth novel by Charles Dickens, published in twenty monthly installments between March 1852 and September 1853. It is held to be one of Dickens's finest novels, containing one of the most vast, complex and engaging arrays of minor characters and sub-plots in his entire canon...
,' and to the Royal Academy 'Nora Creina' and 'Margaret Ramsay;' in 1855 he sent to the Royal Academy a portrait of his father, and continued to contribute to the same exhibition regularly up to the time of his death.
The chief pictures painted by him were 'The Imprisonment of Mary Queen of Scots at Lochleven Castle,' exhibited in 1861; 'Charles IX
Charles IX
Charles IX may refer to:* Charles IX of France * Charles IX of Sweden...
and the French Court at the Massacre of St. Bartholomew,' exhibited in 1865; and 'The Return to Whitehall
Whitehall
Whitehall is a road in Westminster, in London, England. It is the main artery running north from Parliament Square, towards Charing Cross at the southern end of Trafalgar Square...
, 29 May 1660,' exhibited in 1807, and now in the Walker Gallery at Liverpool. This was his last work of importance, as his health failed about this time, and he died at Rainhill
Rainhill
Rainhill is a large village and civil parish of the Metropolitan Borough of St Helens, in Merseyside, England.Historically a part of Lancashire, Rainhill was formerly a township within the ecclesiastical parish of Prescot, and hundred of West Derby...
, near Liverpool, on 1 October 1868, aged 37. On 9 April 1856 he married Elizabeth Jane Fayrer, who survived him, and by whom he left a family.