Marshall Claxton (12 May 1811 – 28 July 1881) was an Englishsubject,genre, landscape andportrait painter.
Claxton was born inBolton, Lancashire, the son of aWesleyan Methodist minister, the Rev. Marshall Claxton, and his wife Diana. Marshall studied underJohn Jackson,R.A., and at theRoyal Academy school where he enrolled on 26 April 1831.
He had his first picture in the Royal Academy in 1832, a portrait of his father. In subsequent years about 30 of his pictures were shown at Academy exhibitions. In 1834 he was awarded the first medal in the painting school, and obtained the gold medal of theSociety of Arts in 1835 for his portrait ofSir Astley Cooper. From 1837 to 1842 he worked in Italy and then returned to London, gaining a prize of £100 for his "Alfred the Great in the Camp of the Danes".
In 1850 Claxton went to Sydney, Australia, with a large collection of pictures, but had little success in selling them. While in Sydney he painted a large picture, "Suffer little children to come unto me", a commission from theBaroness Burdett-Coutts. This was described inHousehold Words as 'the first important picture' painted in Australia.[2]
In September 1854 Claxton left Sydney forCalcutta, where he sold several of his pictures. He returned to England in 1858 viaEgypt, and died in London after a long illness on 28 July 1881.
He married and had two daughters,Adelaide andFlorence Claxton, both of whom were artists and represented in Royal Academy exhibitions between 1859 and 1867.
Claxton's "General View of the Harbour and City of Sydney" is in the Royal collection in England, and there are two pictures by him in the Dickinson collection in theArt Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney. His portraits ofBishop William Broughton andDean Cowper are atSt. Paul's College,University of Sydney, and that of the Rev. Robert Forrest is exhibited atThe King's School,Parramatta. His Godiva painting is in theHerbert Art Gallery and he also has work displayed at theDerby Art Gallery and theVictoria and Albert Museum.[1] He was also known for his depictions of Wesleyan and Methodist subjects, made popular as prints.
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