Bristol School
Encyclopedia
The Bristol School is a term applied retrospectively to describe the informal association and works of a group of artists working in Bristol
, England
, in the early 19th century. It was mainly active in the 1820s, although the origins and influences of the school have been traced over the wider period 1810–40. During the period of his participation in the activities of the Bristol School, Francis Danby
developed the atmospheric, poetical style of landscape painting which then initiated his period of great success in London
in the 1820s.
some years before his death in 1819. Having arrived in Bristol from Ireland in 1813, Francis Danby
was a participant from around 1818–19 and remained connected to the group for around a decade, although he left Bristol for London in 1824. Other artists involved were Edward Villiers Rippingille
, Samuel Jackson
, James Johnson
, Nathan Cooper Branwhite
, William West
, James Baker Pyne
and Paul Falconer Poole
.
Amateur artists also participated. These included John Eagles, Francis Gold and his brother Henry, the surgeon John King and George Cumberland
. Cumberland was a friend of William Blake
and of many important members of the Royal Academy
. Patrons of the school included the antiquarian
George Weare Braikenridge
and the industrialists John Gibbons, Daniel Wade Acraman and Charles Hare.
The group conducted evening sketching meetings and sketching excursions to scenic locations around Bristol, in particular the Avon Gorge
, Leigh Woods
, Nightingale Valley and Stapleton
Valley. Works by the group often featured these locations. A variation on this theme is The Avon Gorge from the summit of the Observatory (1834), an oil painting by West from the vantage point of his own observatory
on Clifton Down
. Depictions of excursions taking place in these landscapes include Danby's View of the Avon Gorge (1822), Johnson's The Entrance to Nightingale Valley (1825), and Rippingille's Sketching Party in Leigh Woods (c. 1828). Imaginary, fantasy landscapes in monochrome wash were common subjects of the evening meetings, usually taking inspiration from the Bristol scenery.
One of the most important events for the school was the first exhibition of the work of local artists at the new Bristol Institution in 1824. The organisers of this exhibition included Jackson, Johnson, Rippingille and Branwhite. The fifth organiser was a second John King, an artist and friend of Danby from Dartmouth
.
There were other artists working in Bristol during this period who do not seem to have been participants in the school's activities. These included Rolinda Sharples
, Samuel Colman and some of the topographical artists working for Braikenridge such as Hugh O'Neill
, Thomas Leeson Scrase Rowbotham
and Edward Cashin.
Around 1832–33 a new series of sketching meetings was started. This initially included William James Müller
, Thomas Leeson Scrase Rowbotham, John Skinner Prout
and Robert Tucker, according to Tucker's own account. The meetings later grew to include more artists, although relatively few surviving drawings have been identified, compared to the meetings of the 1820s, and by the 1830s the works of the Bristol School were less original. Other participants in the meetings probably included Samuel Jackson, Stephen C. Jones, James Baker Pyne, Henry Brittan Willis
, W. Williams, Joseph Walter
, George Arthur Fripp
and Edmund Gustavus Müller. These sketching meetings may have lasted into the 1840s.
William James Müller's biographer Nathaniel Neal Solly described the sketching meetings as a formal club, but some commentators believe he had confused them with the formation of the Bristol Society of Artists, which held its first exhibition in 1832 at the Bristol Institution. That exhibition included numerous works by Samuel Jackson, James Johnson, Nathan Cooper Branwhite and William James Müller.
and then back in Bristol at the Bristol Institution, was in turn particularly influential on other Bristol School artists.
However, the 1832 exhibition of the Bristol Society of Artists included a number of works by artists of the Norwich School: John Sell Cotman
, Miles Edmund Cotman
and John Berney Crome
. John Sell Cotman was to prove a greater influence on the later work of William James Müller than Danby and other Bristol School artists, despite Müller's having been apprenticed to John Baker Pyne during 1827–29/30. Pyne himself in his later career did not continue in the style of Danby's poetical landscapes that he had followed in his Bristol years.
Bristol
Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, in the early 19th century. It was mainly active in the 1820s, although the origins and influences of the school have been traced over the wider period 1810–40. During the period of his participation in the activities of the Bristol School, Francis Danby
Francis Danby
Francis Danby was an Irish painter of the Romantic era. His imaginative, dramatic landscapes were comparable to those of John Martin. Danby initially developed his imaginative style while he was the central figure in a group of artists who have come to be known as the Bristol School...
developed the atmospheric, poetical style of landscape painting which then initiated his period of great success in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
in the 1820s.
Formation
The school initially formed around Edward BirdEdward Bird
Edward Bird was an English genre painter who spent most of his working life in Bristol, where the Bristol School of artists formed around him....
some years before his death in 1819. Having arrived in Bristol from Ireland in 1813, Francis Danby
Francis Danby
Francis Danby was an Irish painter of the Romantic era. His imaginative, dramatic landscapes were comparable to those of John Martin. Danby initially developed his imaginative style while he was the central figure in a group of artists who have come to be known as the Bristol School...
was a participant from around 1818–19 and remained connected to the group for around a decade, although he left Bristol for London in 1824. Other artists involved were Edward Villiers Rippingille
Edward Villiers Rippingille
-External links:*...
, Samuel Jackson
Samuel Jackson (artist)
-External links:*...
, James Johnson
James Johnson (artist)
-External links:* *...
, Nathan Cooper Branwhite
Nathan Cooper Branwhite
-External links:*...
, William West
William West (artist)
-External links:*...
, James Baker Pyne
James Baker Pyne
-External links:*...
and Paul Falconer Poole
Paul Falconer Poole
Paul Falconer Poole was an English subject and genre painter born in Bristol.-Life and work:Though self-taught his fine feeling for colour, poetic sympathy and dramatic power gained for him a high position among British artists. He exhibited his first work in the Royal Academy at the age of...
.
Amateur artists also participated. These included John Eagles, Francis Gold and his brother Henry, the surgeon John King and George Cumberland
George Cumberland
George Cumberland was an English art collector, writer and poet. He was a lifelong friend and supporter of William Blake, and like him was an experimental printmaker. He was also an amateur watercolourist, and one of the earliest members of the Bristol School of artists...
. Cumberland was a friend of William Blake
William Blake
William Blake was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognised during his lifetime, Blake is now considered a seminal figure in the history of both the poetry and visual arts of the Romantic Age...
and of many important members 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...
. Patrons of the school included the antiquarian
Antiquarian
An antiquarian or antiquary is an aficionado or student of antiquities or things of the past. More specifically, the term is used for those who study history with particular attention to ancient objects of art or science, archaeological and historic sites, or historic archives and manuscripts...
George Weare Braikenridge
George Weare Braikenridge
-External links:* * * *...
and the industrialists John Gibbons, Daniel Wade Acraman and Charles Hare.
Activities
Avon Gorge
The Avon Gorge is a 1.5-mile long gorge on the River Avon in Bristol, England. The gorge runs south to north through a limestone ridge west of Bristol city centre, and about 3 miles from the mouth of the river at Avonmouth. The gorge forms the boundary between the unitary authorities of...
, Leigh Woods
Leigh Woods
Leigh Woods is a 2 square kilometre area of woodland on the south-west side of the Avon Gorge, opposite the English city of Bristol and north of the Ashton Court estate. It has been designated as a National Nature Reserve. Small mountain biking circuits are present in the woods and the area is a...
, Nightingale Valley and Stapleton
Stapleton, Bristol
Stapleton is an area in the north-eastern suburbs of the city of Bristol, England. The name is colloquially used today to describe the ribbon village along Bell Hill and Park Road in the Frome Valley. It borders Eastville to the South and Begbrook and Frenchay to the North...
Valley. Works by the group often featured these locations. A variation on this theme is The Avon Gorge from the summit of the Observatory (1834), an oil painting by West from the vantage point of his own observatory
Observatory, Bristol
The Observatory is a former mill, now used as an observatory, located on Clifton Down, close to the Clifton Suspension Bridge, Bristol, England...
on Clifton Down
Clifton Down
Clifton Down is an area of public open space in Bristol, England, north of the village of Clifton. With its neighbour Durdham Down to the northeast, it constitutes the large area known as The Downs, much used for leisure including walking and team sports...
. Depictions of excursions taking place in these landscapes include Danby's View of the Avon Gorge (1822), Johnson's The Entrance to Nightingale Valley (1825), and Rippingille's Sketching Party in Leigh Woods (c. 1828). Imaginary, fantasy landscapes in monochrome wash were common subjects of the evening meetings, usually taking inspiration from the Bristol scenery.
One of the most important events for the school was the first exhibition of the work of local artists at the new Bristol Institution in 1824. The organisers of this exhibition included Jackson, Johnson, Rippingille and Branwhite. The fifth organiser was a second John King, an artist and friend of Danby from Dartmouth
Dartmouth, Devon
Dartmouth is a town and civil parish in the English county of Devon. It is a tourist destination set on the banks of the estuary of the River Dart, which is a long narrow tidal ria that runs inland as far as Totnes...
.
There were other artists working in Bristol during this period who do not seem to have been participants in the school's activities. These included Rolinda Sharples
Rolinda Sharples
Rolinda Sharples , was an English painter who specialized in portraits and genre paintings in oil. She exhibited at the Royal Academy, and at the Society of British Artists, where she became an honorary member.-Biography:...
, Samuel Colman and some of the topographical artists working for Braikenridge such as Hugh O'Neill
Hugh O'Neill (artist)
-External links:* *...
, Thomas Leeson Scrase Rowbotham
Thomas Leeson Scrase Rowbotham
-External links:*...
and Edward Cashin.
Later years
The evening sketching meetings lasted at least until 1829, when Danby participated in one while revisiting Bristol, although other meetings by that time were not so well attended, according to Danby.Around 1832–33 a new series of sketching meetings was started. This initially included William James Müller
William James Müller
William James Müller , English landscape and figure painter, the best-known artist of the Bristol School.-Biography:...
, Thomas Leeson Scrase Rowbotham, John Skinner Prout
John Skinner Prout
John Skinner Prout was born in Plymouth, England, nephew of the famous English watercolourist Samuel Prout.Prout emigrated to Sydney in 1840, accompanied by his wife and their seven children, Prout hoping to pursue a career in Australia as a professional artist and printer...
and Robert Tucker, according to Tucker's own account. The meetings later grew to include more artists, although relatively few surviving drawings have been identified, compared to the meetings of the 1820s, and by the 1830s the works of the Bristol School were less original. Other participants in the meetings probably included Samuel Jackson, Stephen C. Jones, James Baker Pyne, Henry Brittan Willis
Henry Brittan Willis
Henry Brittan Willis was an English landscape and animal painter.-Life and work:Willis was born in Bristol and worked initially with his father, G. H. Willis, also a landscape painter. In 1842, after little financial success in his native city, and on the advice of his father, he traveled to New...
, W. Williams, Joseph Walter
Joseph Walter
-External links:*...
, George Arthur Fripp
George Arthur Fripp
George Arthur Fripp was a British artist who specialised in watercolours. He was a grandson of the artist Nicholas Pocock and brother of the painter Alfred Downing Fripp....
and Edmund Gustavus Müller. These sketching meetings may have lasted into the 1840s.
William James Müller's biographer Nathaniel Neal Solly described the sketching meetings as a formal club, but some commentators believe he had confused them with the formation of the Bristol Society of Artists, which held its first exhibition in 1832 at the Bristol Institution. That exhibition included numerous works by Samuel Jackson, James Johnson, Nathan Cooper Branwhite and William James Müller.
Influence
Danby's atmospheric, poetical style of landscapes as initially developed within the Bristol School bore fruit in works such as An Enchanted Island, A Land of Dreams, The Naiads Isle and An Enchanted Garden. An Enchanted Island, successfully exhibited in 1825 at the British InstitutionBritish 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...
and then back in Bristol at the Bristol Institution, was in turn particularly influential on other Bristol School artists.
However, the 1832 exhibition of the Bristol Society of Artists included a number of works by artists of the Norwich School: John Sell Cotman
John Sell Cotman
John Sell Cotman was an English marine and landscape painter, etcher, illustrator and author, one of the leading lights of the Norwich school of artists.-Early life and work:...
, Miles Edmund Cotman
Miles Edmund Cotman
Miles Edmund Cotman was the eldest son of John Sell Cotman. He was brought up as an artist, exhibited landscapes in Suffolk Street and at the Academy, and in 1842 succeeded his father as drawing-master at King's College, London.-References:...
and John Berney Crome
John Berney Crome
John Berney Crome was an English landscape and marine painter associated with the Norwich School of artists. He is sometimes known as "John Bernay Crome" or by the nickname "Young Crome" to distinguish him from his father, "Old Crome".-Life:John Berney was born in Norwich in Norfolk, the eldest...
. John Sell Cotman was to prove a greater influence on the later work of William James Müller than Danby and other Bristol School artists, despite Müller's having been apprenticed to John Baker Pyne during 1827–29/30. Pyne himself in his later career did not continue in the style of Danby's poetical landscapes that he had followed in his Bristol years.