Lowes Cato Dickinson
Encyclopedia
Lowes Cato Dickinson was a portrait painter and Christian socialist. He taught drawing with Ruskin
and Rossetti. He was a founder of the Working Men's College
in London.
lithographer and stationer, after attending Topsham School, and Dr Lord's School in Tooting.
He corresponded and worked with the central participants of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood
, lecturing with both Dante Gabriel Rossetti
and John Ruskin
. Before touring Italy
for three years around 1850, he had exhibited at the Royal Academy
, where he continued to exhibit for the next forty years.
With other Christian Socialists, Dickinson founded the Working Men's College
, London
, in 1854, a college to provide a liberal education
for artisans. He was an enthusiastic follower of the Christian socialist movement, and painted other Christian Socialists including Charles Kingsley
, Thomas Hughes
, John Malcolm Forbes Ludlow, John Westlake
, Frederick James Furnivall
, Richard Buckley Litchfield
, John Llewelyn Davies
, and the movement's founder, F.D.Maurice
Other subjects for portraits included Queen Victoria, the Prime Minister and his cabinet, George Eliot
, and scientists such as Arthur Cayley
, William Thomson
, Sir George Stokes and James Clerk Maxwell
. Maxwell mentions Dickinson in a poem he wrote to ridicule Cayley, where he notes that his portrait is merely in two dimensions whereas Cayley's achievements were in n-dimensional space.
Dickinson married Margaret Ellen Williams in 1857. Their sons were writer Goldsworthy Lowes Dickinson
and the accountant Arthur Lowes Dickinson; they also had five daughters. He died at All Souls Place, a house he had built for himself, and was buried at Kensal Green Cemetery
. His papers are at Princeton, Oxford and Cambridge Universities.
's 1868 cabinet pictured in the cabinet room of 10 Downing Street
. The Working Men's College offers an annual £1000 pound Art prize for its students called the Lowes Dickinson Award His children also established a travel award for students in his memory.
John Ruskin
John Ruskin was the leading English art critic of the Victorian era, also an art patron, draughtsman, watercolourist, a prominent social thinker and philanthropist. He wrote on subjects ranging from geology to architecture, myth to ornithology, literature to education, and botany to political...
and Rossetti. He was a founder of the Working Men's College
Working Men's College
The Working Men's College- WMC, being among the earliest adult education institutions established in the United Kingdom, is Europe's oldest extant centre for adult education and perhaps one of its smallest...
in London.
Life
Dickinson was born on 27 November 1819 in Kilburn, London, one of eleven children. He obtained his first apprenticeship with his father, a Bond StreetBond Street
Bond Street is a major shopping street in the West End of London that runs north-south through Mayfair between Oxford Street and Piccadilly. It has been a fashionable shopping street since the 18th century and is currently the home of many high price fashion shops...
lithographer and stationer, after attending Topsham School, and Dr Lord's School in Tooting.
He corresponded and worked with the central participants of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood
Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood
The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood was a group of English painters, poets, and critics, founded in 1848 by William Holman Hunt, John Everett Millais and Dante Gabriel Rossetti...
, lecturing with both Dante Gabriel Rossetti
Dante Gabriel Rossetti
Dante Gabriel Rossetti was an English poet, illustrator, painter and translator. He founded the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood in 1848 with William Holman Hunt and John Everett Millais, and was later to be the main inspiration for a second generation of artists and writers influenced by the movement,...
and John Ruskin
John Ruskin
John Ruskin was the leading English art critic of the Victorian era, also an art patron, draughtsman, watercolourist, a prominent social thinker and philanthropist. He wrote on subjects ranging from geology to architecture, myth to ornithology, literature to education, and botany to political...
. Before touring Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
for three years around 1850, he had exhibited at 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...
, where he continued to exhibit for the next forty years.
With other Christian Socialists, Dickinson founded the Working Men's College
Working Men's College
The Working Men's College- WMC, being among the earliest adult education institutions established in the United Kingdom, is Europe's oldest extant centre for adult education and perhaps one of its smallest...
, 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 1854, a college to provide a liberal education
Liberal education
A Liberal education is a system or course of education suitable for the cultivation of a free human being. It is based on the medieval concept of the liberal arts or, more commonly now, the liberalism of the Age of Enlightenment...
for artisans. He was an enthusiastic follower of the Christian socialist movement, and painted other Christian Socialists including Charles Kingsley
Charles Kingsley
Charles Kingsley was an English priest of the Church of England, university professor, historian and novelist, particularly associated with the West Country and northeast Hampshire.-Life and character:...
, Thomas Hughes
Thomas Hughes
Thomas Hughes was an English lawyer and author. He is most famous for his novel Tom Brown's Schooldays , a semi-autobiographical work set at Rugby School, which Hughes had attended. It had a lesser-known sequel, Tom Brown at Oxford .- Biography :Hughes was the second son of John Hughes, editor of...
, John Malcolm Forbes Ludlow, John Westlake
John Westlake
John Westlake was an English law scholar, born at Lostwithiel, Cornwall, the son of a Cornish wool-stapler. He was educated at Lostwithiel and, from 1846, at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he graduated BA in 1850...
, Frederick James Furnivall
Frederick James Furnivall
Frederick James Furnivall , one of the co-creators of the Oxford English Dictionary , was an English philologist...
, Richard Buckley Litchfield
Richard Buckley Litchfield
Richard Buckley Litchfield was a British scholar and philanthropist.-Life:R. B. Litchfield was the only son of Captain Richard Litchfield of Cheltenham, England. He was educated at Cheltenham College and Trinity College, Cambridge, where he became a friend of James Clerk Maxwell, and where he then...
, John Llewelyn Davies
Arthur Llewelyn Davies
Arthur Llewelyn Davies was a respected barrister, but is best known as the father of the boys who served as the inspiration for Peter Pan and the other children of J. M. Barrie's stories of Neverland...
, and the movement's founder, F.D.Maurice
Other subjects for portraits included Queen Victoria, the Prime Minister and his cabinet, George Eliot
George Eliot
Mary Anne Evans , better known by her pen name George Eliot, was an English novelist, journalist and translator, and one of the leading writers of the Victorian era...
, and scientists such as Arthur Cayley
Arthur Cayley
Arthur Cayley F.R.S. was a British mathematician. He helped found the modern British school of pure mathematics....
, William Thomson
William Thomson, 1st Baron Kelvin
William Thomson, 1st Baron Kelvin OM, GCVO, PC, PRS, PRSE, was a mathematical physicist and engineer. At the University of Glasgow he did important work in the mathematical analysis of electricity and formulation of the first and second laws of thermodynamics, and did much to unify the emerging...
, Sir George Stokes and James Clerk Maxwell
James Clerk Maxwell
James Clerk Maxwell of Glenlair was a Scottish physicist and mathematician. His most prominent achievement was formulating classical electromagnetic theory. This united all previously unrelated observations, experiments and equations of electricity, magnetism and optics into a consistent theory...
. Maxwell mentions Dickinson in a poem he wrote to ridicule Cayley, where he notes that his portrait is merely in two dimensions whereas Cayley's achievements were in n-dimensional space.
Dickinson married Margaret Ellen Williams in 1857. Their sons were writer Goldsworthy Lowes Dickinson
Goldsworthy Lowes Dickinson
Goldsworthy Lowes Dickinson , was a British historian and political activist. He led most of his life at Cambridge, where he wrote a dissertation on Neoplatonism before becoming a fellow. He was closely associated with the Bloomsbury Group.A noted pacifist, Dickinson protested against Britain's...
and the accountant Arthur Lowes Dickinson; they also had five daughters. He died at All Souls Place, a house he had built for himself, and was buried at Kensal Green Cemetery
Kensal Green Cemetery
Kensal Green Cemetery is a cemetery in Kensal Green, in the west of London, England. It was immortalised in the lines of G. K. Chesterton's poem The Rolling English Road from his book The Flying Inn: "For there is good news yet to hear and fine things to be seen; Before we go to Paradise by way of...
. His papers are at Princeton, Oxford and Cambridge Universities.
Legacy
Dickinson has numerous paintings in the National Portrait Gallery in London, including his group painting of GladstoneWilliam Ewart Gladstone
William Ewart Gladstone FRS FSS was a British Liberal statesman. In a career lasting over sixty years, he served as Prime Minister four separate times , more than any other person. Gladstone was also Britain's oldest Prime Minister, 84 years old when he resigned for the last time...
's 1868 cabinet pictured in the cabinet room of 10 Downing Street
10 Downing Street
10 Downing Street, colloquially known in the United Kingdom as "Number 10", is the headquarters of Her Majesty's Government and the official residence and office of the First Lord of the Treasury, who is now always the Prime Minister....
. The Working Men's College offers an annual £1000 pound Art prize for its students called the Lowes Dickinson Award His children also established a travel award for students in his memory.