James Sant | |
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| Born | James Sant (1820-04-23)23 April 1820 |
| Died | 12 Jul 1916 (aged 96) (1820-04-24) |
| Alma mater | Royal Academy Schools |
| Occupation | Court & Society Painter |
| Known for | Royal portraitist |
| Notable work | Queen Victoria The Royal Family Capt. Colin Mackenzie, Madras Army Miss Martineau's Garden |
| Movement | History painting Symbolism Romanticism Academic Art English School |
| Spouse | Elizabeth (Eliza) Thomson |
| Children | 6 |
| Relatives |
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| Awards | Royal Victorian Order Royal Academician Accademia Raffaello, Italy Paris Exposition Universelle (1889) |
| Patrons | Queen Victoria |
James SantRA CVO (1820–1916) was one of the most eminent English painters of the Victorian era, specialising in portraiture and known particularly for images of aristocratic women and children,[1] with a strong allegorical approach to childhood symbolism.[2] He was an elected member of theRoyal Academy[3] and appointed Principal Court Painter in Ordinary to Queen Victoria and the Royal Family.[4]
Sant was born inCroydon, Surrey, England, on 23 April 1820. He was taught first by the watercolouristJohn Varley, then bySir A. Callcott RA,[5] then from the age of twenty was taught by theRoyal Academy Schools.
He lived to the age of 96 and exhibited at theGrosvenor Gallery as well as producing nearly three hundred canvases for exhibition at the Academy. The first of these, a portrait of his father,William Sant,[6] was exhibited in 1840;[7] the last was exhibited in 1915.
In 1851 he married Elizabeth (Eliza) Thomson, daughter of Dr R.M.M. Thomson, a surgeon and member of theAgri Horticultural Society of India,[8] and sister ofGen. Sir Mowbray Thomson.
His 1853 picture ofThe Infant Samuel was his first popular success, and engravings of this bySamuel Cousins and ofLittle Red Riding Hood andThe Soul's Awakening sold in great numbers.
In 1861, twenty-two portraits of friends and relatives of Frances, Lady Waldegrave, known as the Strawberry Hill Collection, were exhibited byErnest Gambart at his French Gallery inPall Mall and at theParis Salon. This enhanced his reputation, and he was elected ARA and later RA; in 1871 he was appointedPrincipal Painter in Ordinary (official portraitist) toQueen Victoria, having become known for his portraits of the royal children and in particular his 1870Portrait of Prince Leopold and Princess Beatrice.[9] He was the last artist to hold the title.
Sant is best known for his portraits, particularly of aristocratic women and of children; he was "the emperor of children", in the words of theAthenaeum. Nevertheless, many of his pictures were landscapes and particularly gardens; he also painted seascapes, landscapes with animals, and other subjects, includingThe Wish Tower,[10] aMartello Tower atEastbourne. His later pictures are freer in style; some have been favourably compared with the work of theFrench Impressionists[11] and some have a visionary ormannerist quality; his landscapes could include figures with blank or distorted features or simple silhouettes, such asThe nun in Convent Walls (1910).[12] He continued painting into old age;All My Fancy! (1910), an Italian landscape with villa and hills, he painted in bed from memory.[13]
He became a Commander of theRoyal Victorian Order (CVO) in 1914 and resigned from the RA in the same year to "make room for younger men". He died inLancaster Gate, London, on 12 July 1916. His work can be found at theNational Gallery,Tate Britain and theNational Portrait Gallery in London.
At auction, Sant's work can achieve hundreds of pounds sterling or hundreds of thousands of pounds depending on size, quality and subject matter.[14] Allegorical subjects remain popular;Courage, Anxiety and Despair:Watching the Battle (circa 1850) achieved £61,250 in 2012[15] andAstronomy almost twice this in 2008.[14]
HisThe Schoolmaster's Daughter (1870) andMiss Martineau's Garden (1873) are illustrated inVictorian Painters by Jeremy Maas;[16]The Seventh Earl of Cardigan Relating the Story of the Cavalry Charge of Balaclava... (1854) is illustrated in the same volume and inVictorian Painters by Christopher Wood.[17] Many of his works were reproduced as prints during his lifetime; his Courage has since been reproduced as a greetings card and his Hilda Pennington-Mellor, aged three (1880), as a postcard.[18]
Sant's work can also be seen at theVictoria Memorial in Kolkata, India, theArt Gallery of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia and theYale Center for British Art.
Sant's brother, George Sant RBA (Royal Society of British Artists) (1821–1877), was a landscape painter, and the two brothers occasionally collaborated on paintings. Both James and George Sant were among the notable artist acquaintances of Charles Dodgson (Lewis Carroll); James Sant, his daughter Sarah Fanny[19] and son Jemmy were the subjects of photographic studies by Dodgson.[20][21]
His sister, Sarah Sherwood Clarke (1825–1906), was also an accomplished artist but all that is presently known of her work is a collection of 48 different views ofScotland from 1854;[22] these were exhibited for the first time at theWatercolours & Works on Paper Fair in London in February 2010.[23] She married Frederick Clarke, Superintendent and later Secretary of theLondon and South Western Railway.
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| Preceded by | Principal Painter in Ordinary to the Queen 1871–1901 | Succeeded by — |
James Sant, who in 1871 succeeded Sir George Hayter as Queen Victoria's Principal Painter-in-Ordinary, had a successful career as a portrait painter.
Media related toJames Sant at Wikimedia Commons
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