John Collier | |
|---|---|
 John Collier by his first wife Marian, née Huxley, 1882 | |
| Born | John Maler Collier 27 January 1850 |
| Died | 11 April 1934(1934-04-11) (aged 84) Eton Avenue, London |
| Education | Eton; Slade School of Fine Art |
| Known for | Painter |
| Movement | Pre-Raphaelite;Orientalism |
| Spouses |
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John Maler CollierOBEROIRP (/ˈkɒliər/; 27 January 1850 – 11 April 1934) was an English painter and writer.[1] He was one of the most prominentportrait painters of his generation. Both of his marriages were to daughters ofThomas Henry Huxley. He was educated atEton College, and he studied painting in Paris withJean-Paul Laurens and at theMunich Academy starting in 1875.
Collier was from a talented and successful family. His grandfather, John Collier, was a Quaker merchant who became a member of parliament. His father,Robert (a member of parliament,Attorney General and, for many years, a full-timejudge of the Privy Council) was created the firstLord Monkswell. Collier was a member of theNew Society of Artists as well as theRoyal Society of British Artists. He had artists' studios in his home at 7Chelsea Embankment for the use of John and his wife Marion.[2] John Collier's elder brother,the second Lord Monkswell, wasUnder-Secretary of State for War and Chairman of theLondon County Council.
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In due course, Collier became an integral part of the family ofThomas Henry HuxleyPC, President of theRoyal Society from 1883 to 1885. Collier married two of Huxley's daughters and was "on terms of intimate friendship" with his son, the writerLeonard Huxley. Collier's first wife, in 1879, wasMarian Huxley (Mady). She was a painter who studied, like her husband, at theSlade and exhibited at theRoyal Academy and elsewhere. In 1881, the couple settled inTite Street, Chelsea, in a purpose-built studio house, alongside their friendAnna Lea Merritt.[2] After the birth of their only child—a daughter, Joyce—Marian suffered severepost-natal depression and was taken to Paris for treatment where, however, she contractedpneumonia and died in 1887. Joyce became a portrait miniaturist and was a member of theRoyal Society of Miniature Painters.
In 1889 Collier married Mady's younger sister Ethel Huxley.[3] Until theDeceased Wife's Sister's Marriage Act 1907 such a marriage was not possible in England, so the ceremony took place in Norway. By his second wife he had a daughter and a son, SirLaurence Collier, who was the British ambassador to Norway 1941–1951.
Collier's range of portrait subjects was broad. In 1893, for example, his subjects includedLovelace Stamer,Bishop of Shrewsbury; SirJohn Lubbock FRS; A N Hornby (Captain of the Lancashire Eleven);Edward Augustus Inglefield (Admiral and Arctic explorer).
His commissioned portrait of theDuke of York (laterGeorge V) as Master ofTrinity House in 1901, and thePrince of Wales (laterEdward VIII) were his major royal portraits. The latter work was hung inDurbar Hall,Jodhpur,Rajputana.
Other subjects included twoLord Chancellors (theEarl of Selborne in 1882 and theEarl of Halsbury) in 1897; The Speaker of theHouse of Commons,William Gully, (1897); senior legal figures theLord Chief JusticeLord Alverstone (1912) and theMaster of the Rolls SirGeorge Jessel (1881).[4]
Rudyard Kipling (1891); the painter SirLawrence Alma-Tadema (1884); the actorsJ.L. Toole (1887) andMadge Kendal,Ellen Terry andHerbert Beerbohm Tree (inThe Merry Wives of Windsor) (1904); heads of educational institutions such as the Master ofBalliolEdward Caird (1904), the Warden ofWadham G.E. Thorley (1889) and the Provost ofEton (1897) were also subjects for Collier. His portraits also include those of soldiers such as Field MarshalLord Kitchener of Khartoum (1911) and Field Marshal Sir Frederick Haines (1891); two Indianmaharajahs, including theMaharajah ofNepal (1910); and scientists includingCharles Darwin (1882), the artist's father-in-lawProfessor Huxley (1891),William Kingdom Clifford,James Prescott Joule and SirMichael Foster (1907). Clark reports a total of thirty-twoHuxley family portraits during the half-century after his first marriage.[5]
A photocopy of John Collier'sSitters Book (made in 1962 from the original in the possession of the artist's son) can be consulted in the Heinz Archive and Library,National Portrait Gallery.[6] This is the artist's own handwritten record of all his portraits, including name of subject, date, fee charged, and details of any major exhibitions of the picture in question.[7]
Collier died in 1934. His entry in theDictionary of National Biography (volume for 1931–40, published 1949) compares his work to that ofFrank Holl because of its solemnity. This is only true, however, of his many portraits of distinguished old men – his portraits of younger men, women and children, and his so-called "problem pictures", covering scenes of ordinary life, are often very bright and fresh.
His entry in theDictionary of Art (1996 vol 7, p569), byGeoffrey Ashton, refers to the invisibility of his brush strokes as a "rather unexciting and flat use of paint" but contrasts that with "Collier's strong and surprising sense of colour" which "created a disconcerting verisimilitude in both mood and appearance".
TheDictionary of Portrait Painters in Britain up to 1920 (1997) describes his portraits as "painterly works with a fresh use of light and colour".
Sixteen of John Collier's paintings are now in the collections of theNational Portrait Gallery in London, and two are in theTate Gallery. Four of the National Portrait Gallery paintings were in December 1997 on display: John Burns, Sir William Huggins, Thomas Huxley (the artist's father in law) and Charles Darwin (copies of the last two are also prominently displayed at the top of the staircase at theAthenaeum Club in London).
A 1907 self-portrait has been preserved in theUffizi in Florence which presumably commissioned it as part of its celebrated collection of artists' self-portraits.
Other pictures may be seen in houses and institutions open to the public: hisClytemnestra, a large and striking painting of the mythical figure, is in theGuildhall Gallery of the City of London. Another version, in which Clytemnestra has committed the murder and stands half-naked by the bath with a bloody sword is in theWorcester City Art Gallery & Museum.Sentence of Death was given by the widow of the artist toWolverhampton Art Gallery. His portrait of theEarl of Onslow (1903), is atClandon Park, Surrey (National Trust). His full-length portrait of SirCharles Tertius Mander, first baronet, is atOwlpen Manor, Gloucestershire, with another version in the collection of the National Trust atWightwick Manor, and hisLady Godiva is in theHerbert Art Gallery and Museum.A glass of wine with Caesar Borgia (1893) can be seen hanging in the atrium of Ipswich Town Hall.
Reproductions of many others, from various collections, may be consulted in the John Collier box in the National Portrait Gallery Heinz Archive and Library, and a good selection is published inThe Art of the Honourable John Collier by W.H. Pollock (1914). His work was also included in the Great Victorian Pictures exhibition mounted by theArts Council in 1978 (catalogue, p27).
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Collier's views on religion and ethics have been compared with the views ofThomas andJulian Huxley, both of whom gaveRomanes lectures on that subject. Collier (1926)[8] explains
His views on ethics, then, were very close to the agnosticism of T.H. Huxley and thehumanism of Julian Huxley.
On the idea of God:
And
And on the Church:
And onnon-conformists:
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Media related toJohn Collier at Wikimedia Commons
