The Barnes School – my daily art display

The Patriarch, Outdated Williams.

When I arrived throughout the words and phrases “Barnes School” in connection with art, I right away considered it was referring to an creative colony or a sort of portray but I was improper, albeit the name derived from the then rural city of Barnes, a district in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, exactly where a talented creative loved ones experienced their painting studio.  The title referred to a nineteenth century spouse and children of gifted Victorian landscape painters who pictorially depicted the British countryside.  The head of this relatives of artists was Edward Williams. In this and the future three blogs I will be searching at the lifestyle and do the job of the gifted patriarch and his six sons

Edward Williams was born some time in 1781 as baptismal information exhibit him as currently being baptised on October 13th 1781 at St. Mary’s Church in the London borough of Lambeth.  Edward was the son of Edward Williams, an engraver and Mary Ward.  Mary arrived from a big creative relatives. She was a sister of James Ward the very well-acknowledged animal painter, and a sister of the equally properly-regarded engraver, William Ward. Mary was also a sister-in-law of the proficient figure painter George Morland, and a sister-in-law of Henry Chalon, an additional animal painter. The spouse and children heritage recounts that close to 1793 Edward Williams’ mom remaining his father for a different man, and their son Edward was despatched to dwell with his maternal uncle, James Ward the painter. Ward was one particular of the remarkable artists of the working day and was regarded as 1 of the great animal painters of his time.  It is not recorded as to regardless of whether Ward ever gave his younger nephew any inventive coaching but there is no question that Edward have to have been motivated by his brief association with Ward.

Following being with Ward for a brief time period Edward Williams took up an apprenticeship with a carver and gilder named Thomas Hillier, who was not in any of the trade guilds but even so had a shop on Silver Avenue, Golden Square, London. It was possible that Edward commenced his career carving and gilding image frames, but it is also acknowledged that to help himself financially he painted and sold miniatures.

Edward married Ann Hildebrant, who was the daughter of Frederick and Sarah Hildebrant, on February 12th, 1806 at St. Pancras Church in London. Ann was 20-5 and Edward was a 12 months young.  Even though Edward Williams’ career was as a carver and gilder he was amongst kin who have been all perfectly-regarded painters and engravers, and for that reason, as time passed, Edward re-invented himself as a painter. 

His initial delving into the planet of art was when he started out to copy very well recognised landscape paintings of the Dutch Baroque era of the 1600’s, these as all those by Jacob Isaackszoon van Ruisdael and Meindert Hobbema. 

Subsequent this section in his creative job, he concentrated on copying is effective by contemporary landscape painters, such as his uncle, George Morland. Edward took the choice to grow to be a landscape painter which was a risky preference as landscape art was, at the time, regarded as to be an inferior genre.

Edward Williams grew to become acknowledged for his moonlight scenes.  Edward Williams usually shared art exhibition venues with his sons, resulting in some confusion with the general public who experienced issues telling just one Williams portray from one more. He is generally called “Old Williams” to distinguish him from his oldest son, and he is referred to in some of the art journals of the time as “Moonight Williams”, as moonlit scenes of the Thames have been 1 of his favourite topics in his paintings

As he acquired older, for river scenes along the Thames.

Edward and his spouse Ann Hildebrandt had married in February 1806 and went on to have 8 little ones.  The to start with-born was Edward Charles Williams who was born on July 10^th 1807 and since he had been given the same name as his father, Edward Williams, his father turned known in his later on years as “Old Williams” to distinguish himself from his eldest son .  Two more sons followed, Henry John Boddington Williams in Oct 1811, George Augustus Williams in Might 1814.   Then adopted the Williams’ only daughter, Emily Anne Williams who was born in June 1816.   Arthur Gilbert Frederick Williams arrived in December 1819 followed by Sidney Richard Percy Williams in March 1822.  Identical twin boys Alfred Walter Williams and Charles Williams had been the final additions to the Williams family in July 1824.  Sadly, Charles Williams died shortly immediately after start.

Edward and his spouse Ann lived in numerous residences, in what is now termed the West Close of London, in Percy Street, Foley Avenue, and Charlotte Road.  In 1827 the family members moved to Cromer Avenue in the St Pancras location exactly where they stayed for almost twenty decades.  By 1846 with the steady sale of the father and sons’ paintings, the family’s finances had improved.  Add to that actuality the relatives had grown, they desired a much larger residence and so moved to 32 Castelnau Villas, Barnes.  Edward Williams invested his last a long time there with his wife Ann.  She died, aged 71, and was buried on September 24th, 1851 at the Barnes Parish Church.  Old Williams was defeat with the grief from the dying of his spouse and he died just 4 a long time afterwards at the age of 74 on June 24th, 1855 at his Castelnau Villa dwelling.  He together with his wife now relaxation in the Previous Barnes Cemetery.  Regrettably, the cemetery has been turned into a character sanctuary by the town council and the graveyard has fallen into disrepair and is overgrown with bushes and vines.

……………..to be continued.

Most of the information and facts I have found for these weblogs about the Barnes Faculty arrived from the exceptional web page of Mike Clark, entitled Genealogy of the Percy, Williams and Ward families.  If you would like to study an in-depth account of the Williams loved ones, this is a must-browse.