William Powell Frith (1819-1909)

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  William Powell Frith, R.A. (1819-1909)

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  William Powell Frith, R.A. , British 1819-1909 Poverty and Wealth oil on canvas

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  William Powell Frith, R.A. (1819-1909)

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  William Powell Frith, R.A. (1819-1909)

• William Powell Frith Related Content
• William Powell Frith Sold at Auction

William Powell Frith Biography

(b Aldfield, nr Ripon, N. Yorks, 9 Jan 1819; d St John’s Wood, London, 2 Nov 1909). English painter. His parents were in domestic employment before taking a hotel in Harrogate in 1826. They encouraged him to become an artist, despite his own desire to be an auctioneer. While at school in Dover, Frith sketched caricatures and copies of Dutch genre scenes (Dover Mus.) that betray his disposition to narratives. His taste did not accord with the academic training he received at Henry Sass’s Academy in London (1835–7) and at the Royal Academy Schools (1837). Frith began his career as a portrait painter, using members of his family as models. He first exhibited at the British Institution in 1838, and during the 1840s he established himself with his entertaining historical and literary subjects in the popular tradition of C. R. Leslie, William Mulready and Sir David Wilkie. He was a member of THE CLIQUE, which included Richard Dadd, Augustus Egg, Henry O’Neil and John Phillip. His friendship with Charles Dickens began with commissions for paintings of Dolly Varden (London, V&A) and Kate Nickleby (untraced) in 1842.

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William Powell Frith Related Content

• Auction Houses

  Genres/Artists

• Featured Houses (13)

  • Barridoff Galleries
  • Bonhams
  • Doyle New York
  • Dreweatts
  • DuMouchelles
  • Historia Auktionshaus
  • Leslie Hindman Auctioneers
  • Lyon & Turnbull
  • Neal Auction Company
  • Skinner
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  • Winter Associates, Inc.
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  • Adam Partridge Auctioneers & Valuers
  • Bamfords Auctioneers and Valuers Ltd
  • Batemans Auctioneers & Valuers
  • Bearne's
  • Bonhams
  • Brightwells
  • Capes Dunn & Co.
  • Charles Ross Auctions
  • Christie's
  • Christies East
  • David Duggleby
  • Dickins Auctioneers
  • Dunnings
  • Frank Boos
  • Hartleys Auctioneers and Valuers
  • J P Humbert Auctioneers Ltd
  • Jackson's International
  • Keys Fine Art Auctioneers
  • Lawrences
  • Mallams
  • Mitchells
  • Paul Beighton Auctioneers
  • Phillips
  • Pook and Pook
  • Rosebery's
  • Rye Auction
  • Sheppards
  • Sloan's Auction Galleries, Ltd.
  • Sotheby's
  • Spencers
  • Sworders Fine Art Auctioneers
  • Tennants
  • Thomson Roddick & Medcalf
  • Von Zezschwitz Kunst und Design
  • Wellers Auctioneers

• Clique, Le (9)

  • Thomas R.A Creswick
  • Richard Dadd
  • Augustus Leopold Egg
  • Alfred Elmore
  • Thomas Musgrave Joy
  • Henry Nelson O'Neil
  • John Phillip
  • William Bell Scott
  • Edward Matthew Ward

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