Victorian artist mastered dusk and moonlit scenes...

Hard times: The Victorian artist who mastered the night but was overshadowed by debt

By SADIE WHITELOCKS
Last updated at 8:23 PM on 18th April 2011

Today his oil paintings fetch up to £500,000 but a new exhibition reveals how Victorian master John Atkinson Grimshaw's artistic ambitions left him destitute.

In his early twenties and with no professional training, the Yorkshireman decided ditch his job as a railway clerk to make a living from his art.

Grimshaw had secured private patrons to pay the bills but his decadent lifestyle and premature deaths of 10 of his 16 children left him drowning in debt.

Boar Lane, Leeds, 1881: Although today his paintings fetch up to £500,000, a new exhibition reveals how Victorian artist, John Atkinson Grimshaw faced financial ruin

However his atmospheric depictions of areas including Glasgow, Liverpool, Leeds and London are now hugely sought-after.

Portrait of the artist: Even Grimshaw's contemporary Whistler admired his painting ability

Simon Toll, expert in Victorian art at Sotheby's, said: 'Grimshaw's work is nostalgic and evocative of the period. 

'He is considered to be one of the best painters of moonlit scenes.'

Jane Sellers, curator of the Mercer Gallery in Harrogate, where the exhibition has opened, told The Guardian: 'The amount of work he had to produce drove him to find quicker and quicker ways of painting.

'This led to pot-boiling work, but also to discoveries which brought us the wonderfully atmospheric effect of his moon-washed landscapes and streets of gaslit shops. 

'It made him inventive and persistent,'

Born in Leeds, Grimshaw was discouraged from his artistic pursuits by his father who was a police officer and his mother who ran a grocery store, 

But his talents were noted by many including his close friend and contemporary Whistler, who said: ‘I considered myself the inventor of nocturnes until I saw Grimmy’s moonlight picture.’

Moonlight, Wharfedale, c.1865: Grimshaw's artistic talents were noted by many including his close friend and contemporary Whistler who said: 'I considered myself the inventor of nocturnes until I saw Grimmy's moonlight picture'

With marked success in 1870, the determined artist had made enough to move his family to Knostrop Old Hall, a seventeenth century mansion about two miles from the centre of Leeds and rent another house near Scarborough. 

 

Sellars added: 'He painted to pay bills, painted keep his family together, and painted in lieu of rent on his palatial homes.'

But towards 1876 Grimshaw suffered a mysterious financial disaster forcing him to leave his palatial surroundings and settle with a studio in Chelsea, London.

Park Row, Leeds, 1882: Most of Grimshaw's watercolours and oils are atmospheric depictions of urban areas including Glasgow, Liverpool, Leeds and London

The current exhibition features over 50 watercolours and oils, the largest collection of his major works to be shown since 1979.

Grimshaw died on October 13, 1893, and is buried in Woodhouse Cemetery, Leeds. An obituary notice issued at the time said: ‘A Leeds artist of very great ability has passed away. 

'He may be regarded as self-taught in all that gave character and distinction to his art. His methods, treatment and colouring were quite unlike anything in ordinary practice.'

John Atkinson Grimshaw: Painter of Moonlight, is at The Mercer Art Gallery, Harrogate, from April 16 to September 4, 2011

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1378068/John-Atkinson-Grimshaw-The-Victorian-artist-mastered-night-shadowed-debt.html#ixzz1JxXRmCLI