George Lance
Encyclopedia
George Lance was an English painter of still life
and portrait miniature
s.
in Essex
. His father was William Lance who had previously served in a regiment of light horse and was at the time of Lance's birth an adjutant in the Essex yeomanry; afterwards he became the inspector of the Bow Street horse-patrol
. His mother, Louisa Lucy (née) Constable, with whom his father had eloped from boarding-school, was the daughter of Colonel Constable of Beverley
in Yorkshire
.
Although Lance showed a predilection for art at a very early age, his friends placed him, when under the age of fourteen, in a factory in Leeds
. However, the uncongenial work injured his health and he returned to London
. Wandering one day into the British Museum
, he casually started a conversation with Charles Landseer, who happened to be drawing there. On learning that Landseer was a pupil of Benjamin Haydon
, he went early next morning to that painter's residence, and asked to become a pupil. Haydon replied that if his drawings promised future success he would instruct him for nothing. Not many days later Lance, still under fourteen, entered Haydon's studio, and remained there seven years, at the same time studying in the schools of the Royal Academy
.
While designing a picture inspired by Homer
's 'Iliad
', he decided, before putting on the colours, to paint some fruit and vegetables, in order to improve his execution. His work attracted the notice of Sir George Beaumont
, who purchased it, and this success led him to paint another fruit-piece, which he sold to the Earl of Shaftesbury
. He then painted two fruit-pieces for the Duke of Bedford
as decorations for a summer-house at Woburn Abbey
, and his work proved so profitable that he decided to devote himself to the painting of still-life.
He began to exhibit in 1824, when he sent to the British Institution
'A Fruit Boy,' and to the Society of British Artists 'The Mischievous Boy' and two fruit-pieces. In 1828 appeared his first contribution to the exhibitions of the Royal Academy, 'Still Life,' with the quotation from Samuel Butler's
poem "Hudibras
":
Although it was chiefly as a painter of fruit and flowers that Lance gained his reputation, he sometimes produced historical and genre works, and his picture of 'Melanchthon's
First Misgivings of the Church of Rome' won the prize at the Liverpool Academy
in 1836. His works appeared most frequently at the exhibitions of the British Institution, to which he contributed in all 135 pictures, but he sent also forty-eight works to the Society of British Artists, and thirty-eight to the Royal Academy. Amongst these were:
Besides these he exhibited many fruit-pieces and pictures of dead game, painted with great richness of colour and truthfulness to nature. Lance died at the residence of his son - Sunnyside, near Birkenhead
, on 18 June 1864.
His most distinguished pupils were Sir John Gilbert
and William Duffield, the latter an artist of great promise who died voung in 1863.
Still life
A still life is a work of art depicting mostly inanimate subject matter, typically commonplace objects which may be either natural or man-made...
and portrait miniature
Portrait miniature
A portrait miniature is a miniature portrait painting, usually executed in gouache, watercolour, or enamel.Portrait miniatures began to flourish in 16th century Europe and the art was practiced during the 17th century and 18th century...
s.
Life and work
Lance was born at the old manor-house in Little EastonLittle Easton
Little Easton is a small village in Essex, England, which dates from the 12th century. The village has a population of just a few hundred people, one pub, "The Stag", and one church...
in Essex
Essex
Essex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England, and one of the home counties. It is located to the northeast of Greater London. It borders with Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent to the South and London to the south west...
. His father was William Lance who had previously served in a regiment of light horse and was at the time of Lance's birth an adjutant in the Essex yeomanry; afterwards he became the inspector of the Bow Street horse-patrol
Bow Street Runners
The Bow Street Runners have been called London's first professional police force. The force was founded in 1749 by the author Henry Fielding and originally numbered just six. Bow Street runners was the public's nickname for these officers, "although the officers never referred to themselves as...
. His mother, Louisa Lucy (née) Constable, with whom his father had eloped from boarding-school, was the daughter of Colonel Constable of Beverley
Beverley
Beverley is a market town, civil parish and the county town of the East Riding of Yorkshire, England, located between the River Hull and the Westwood. The town is noted for Beverley Minster and architecturally-significant religious buildings along New Walk and other areas, as well as the Beverley...
in Yorkshire
Yorkshire
Yorkshire is a historic county of northern England and the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its great size in comparison to other English counties, functions have been increasingly undertaken over time by its subdivisions, which have also been subject to periodic reform...
.
Although Lance showed a predilection for art at a very early age, his friends placed him, when under the age of fourteen, in a factory in Leeds
Leeds
Leeds is a city and metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. In 2001 Leeds' main urban subdivision had a population of 443,247, while the entire city has a population of 798,800 , making it the 30th-most populous city in the European Union.Leeds is the cultural, financial and commercial...
. However, the uncongenial work injured his health and he returned to 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...
. Wandering one day into the British Museum
British Museum
The British Museum is a museum of human history and culture in London. Its collections, which number more than seven million objects, are amongst the largest and most comprehensive in the world and originate from all continents, illustrating and documenting the story of human culture from its...
, he casually started a conversation with Charles Landseer, who happened to be drawing there. On learning that Landseer was a pupil of Benjamin Haydon
Benjamin Haydon
Benjamin Robert Haydon was an English historical painter and writer.-Biography:Haydon was born in Plymouth. His mother was the daughter of the Rev. Benjamin Cobley, rector of Dodbrooke, near Kingsbridge, Devon. Her brother, General Sir Thomas Cobley, was renowned for his part in the siege of Ismail...
, he went early next morning to that painter's residence, and asked to become a pupil. Haydon replied that if his drawings promised future success he would instruct him for nothing. Not many days later Lance, still under fourteen, entered Haydon's studio, and remained there seven years, at the same time studying in the schools 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...
.
While designing a picture inspired by Homer
Homer
In the Western classical tradition Homer , is the author of the Iliad and the Odyssey, and is revered as the greatest ancient Greek epic poet. These epics lie at the beginning of the Western canon of literature, and have had an enormous influence on the history of literature.When he lived is...
's 'Iliad
Iliad
The Iliad is an epic poem in dactylic hexameters, traditionally attributed to Homer. Set during the Trojan War, the ten-year siege of the city of Troy by a coalition of Greek states, it tells of the battles and events during the weeks of a quarrel between King Agamemnon and the warrior Achilles...
', he decided, before putting on the colours, to paint some fruit and vegetables, in order to improve his execution. His work attracted the notice of Sir George Beaumont
Sir George Beaumont, 7th Baronet
Sir George Howland Beaumont, 7th Baronet was a British art patron and amateur painter. He played a crucial part in the creation of London's National Gallery by making the first bequest of paintings to that institution....
, who purchased it, and this success led him to paint another fruit-piece, which he sold to the Earl of Shaftesbury
Cropley Ashley-Cooper, 6th Earl of Shaftesbury
Cropley Ashley-Cooper, 6th Earl of Shaftesbury , styled The Honourable Cropley Ashley-Cooper until 1811, was a British politician. He was the father of the social reformer Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 7th Earl of Shaftesbury....
. He then painted two fruit-pieces for the Duke of Bedford
Duke of Bedford
thumb|right|240px|William Russell, 1st Duke of BedfordDuke of Bedford is a title that has been created five times in the Peerage of England. The first creation came in 1414 in favour of Henry IV's third son, John, who later served as regent of France. He was made Earl of Kendal at the same time...
as decorations for a summer-house at Woburn Abbey
Woburn Abbey
Woburn Abbey , near Woburn, Bedfordshire, England, is a country house, the seat of the Duke of Bedford and the location of the Woburn Safari Park.- Pre-20th century :...
, and his work proved so profitable that he decided to devote himself to the painting of still-life.
He began to exhibit in 1824, when he sent 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...
'A Fruit Boy,' and to the Society of British Artists 'The Mischievous Boy' and two fruit-pieces. In 1828 appeared his first contribution to the exhibitions of the Royal Academy, 'Still Life,' with the quotation from Samuel Butler's
Samuel Butler (poet)
Samuel Butler was a poet and satirist. Born in Strensham, Worcestershire and baptised 14 February 1613, he is remembered now chiefly for a long satirical burlesque poem on Puritanism entitled Hudibras.-Biography:...
poem "Hudibras
Hudibras
Hudibras is an English mock heroic narrative poem from the 17th century written by Samuel Butler.-Purpose:The work is a satirical polemic upon Roundheads, Puritans, Presbyterians and many of the other factions involved in the English Civil War...
":
"Goose, rabbit, pheasant, pigeons, all
With good brown jug for beer not small!"
Although it was chiefly as a painter of fruit and flowers that Lance gained his reputation, he sometimes produced historical and genre works, and his picture of 'Melanchthon's
Philipp Melanchthon
Philipp Melanchthon , born Philipp Schwartzerdt, was a German reformer, collaborator with Martin Luther, the first systematic theologian of the Protestant Reformation, intellectual leader of the Lutheran Reformation, and an influential designer of educational systems...
First Misgivings of the Church of Rome' won the prize at the Liverpool Academy
Liverpool Academy of Arts
The Liverpool Academy of Arts was founded in April 1810 as a regional equivalent of the Royal Academy, London. Two local art collectors, Henry Blundell and William Roscoe were its first Patron and Secretary, the Prince Regent gave his patronage for the next three years, and it was actively...
in 1836. His works appeared most frequently at the exhibitions of the British Institution, to which he contributed in all 135 pictures, but he sent also forty-eight works to the Society of British Artists, and thirty-eight to the Royal Academy. Amongst these were:
- 'The Wine Cooler' (1831)
- 'The Brothers' (1837)
- 'Captain Rolando showing to Gil BlasGil BlasGil Blas is a picaresque novel by Alain-René Lesage published between 1715 and 1735. It is considered to be the last masterpiece of the picaresque genre.-Plot summary:...
the Treasures of the Cave' (1839) - 'May I have this?' (1840)
- 'The Ballad' and 'Narcissus' (1841)
- 'The Microscope,' (1842)
- 'The Village Coquette' (1843)
- 'The Grandmother's Blessing' (1844)
- 'The Biron Conspiracy' (1845)
- 'Preparations for a Banquet' (1846)
- 'From the Garden, just gathered', 'From the Lake, just shot' and 'Red Cap, a monkey with a red cap on his head' (1847)
- 'Modern Fruit Medieval Art' (1850)
- 'The Blonde' and 'The Brunette' (1851)
- 'The Seneschal' (painted for Sir Morton Peto, 1852)
- 'Harold' (1855)
- 'Fair and Fruitful Italy' and 'Beautiful in Death, a peacock' (1857)
- 'The Peacock at Home' (1858)
- 'The Golden Age' (1859)
- 'A Sunny Bank' (1861)
- 'A Gleam of Sunshine' and 'The Burgomaster's Dessert' (1862).
Besides these he exhibited many fruit-pieces and pictures of dead game, painted with great richness of colour and truthfulness to nature. Lance died at the residence of his son - Sunnyside, near Birkenhead
Birkenhead
Birkenhead is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral in Merseyside, England. It is on the Wirral Peninsula, along the west bank of the River Mersey, opposite the city of Liverpool...
, on 18 June 1864.
His most distinguished pupils were Sir John Gilbert
John Gilbert (painter)
Sir John Gilbert was an English artist, illustrator and engraver.-Biography:He was born in Blackheath, Surrey, and taught himself to paint. Skilled in several media, he gained the nickname, "the Scott of painting"...
and William Duffield, the latter an artist of great promise who died voung in 1863.
External links
- Biography of George Lance (Rehs Galleries inc.).
- George lance online (ArtCyclopedia)