Skip to main content
Want more images or videos?
Request additional images or videos from the seller
1 of 3

Sir William Blake Richmond KCB, RA, PPRBSA
The Shepherd, English Victorian 19th Century Egg Tempera

1863

$26,746.83
£19,200
€22,724.32
CA$36,318.18
A$40,712.39
CHF 21,230.59
MX$499,034.52
NOK 269,027.21
SEK 255,772.63
DKK 169,552.84
Shipping
Retrieving quote...
The 1stDibs Promise:
Authenticity Guarantee,
Money-Back Guarantee,
24-Hour Cancellation

About the Item

Sir William Blake Richmond KCB, RA, PPRBSA 1842 - 1921 The Shepherd Egg tempera on wooden panel, signed with initials bottom left Image size: 8 ¼ x 5 ½ inches Period gilt oak frame A newly discovered work by the artist. Sir William Blake Richmond KCB, RA, PPRBSA was an English portrait painter, sculptor and a designer of stained glass and mosaic. He is best known for his portrait work and decorative mosaics in St Paul's Cathedral in London. He was the son of the portraitist George Richmond RA and studied at the Royal Academy Schools in the early 1860s. Influenced by his father and by Sir John Everett Millais, he is best known for his mosaic decorations below the dome and in the apse of St Paul's Cathedral in London. His father, George Richmond, was one of 'the Ancients' who were a group of artists who formed around the visionary artist and poet William Blake. Samuel Palmer was an other of the ancients and a close friend of the family. Our painting could have been inspired by George Richmond’s engraving 'The Shepherd', 1827, but in our panel the shepherd is turned round facing away, and is playing a flute instead of resting on a staff. But the sheep and other elements are there. It is also suggestive of Welby Sherman's engraving after Samuel Palmer of the same name and date, but here the shepherd is sitting but like ours turned away. William Blake's is an altogether happier image given the figure is playing to his sheep. Our painting is playing with some of the same ideas and feels like the same sort of period, and the ‘fresco’ like chalk ground is interesting, as is the pen and ink finishing on the tempera. All three are strongly influenced by Blake's illustrations to Thornton's 'Virgil'. The shepherd and his flock are clearly based on Thenot and his sheep in the Frontispiece to Thornton. Blake Richmond wrote:"If there be the least value in my pictures, it is due to such lovely early impressions derived from the sweet poetic work of many of my father's contemporaries, Calvert, Blake and others, whose shadows are substance still to me" [Sir William Blake Richmond, letter to his father, 50 years after the death of William Blake, from Stirling op. cit p. 28]. Richmond was given private art lessons by John Ruskin before attending the Royal Academy for three years. After that he spent a number of years in Italy, where an encounter with a shepherd called Beppino, 'a splendid speciman of a Sabine Shepherd', could also have gave him the inspiration for the painting we show here. Richmond recalls how he met Beppino on the hillside, and was invited to share the shade of the shepherd's capanna, a wooden hut. 'What a place! In an instant of time I was back into the age of kings, and I knew Romulus had lived and am sure that he lived in a hut exactly like this one'. That night Richmond dined at Beppino's hut 'on roast kid, hard bread dipped in Roman wine, goat's cream and white ricotta'. The shepherd had such an impression on Richmond that he sought him out on a return visit to Italy some years later, but was saddened to hear that Beppino 'had joined his fore-fathers in the shades'. He was moved to write the following, which perfectly expresses the mood of this painting and his tribute to a fleeting companion: 'Little events of this kind unite past times with present, create and emphasis continuity of human instincts, which seem to defy time and make travel so intensely interesting and invigorating to a citizen of this world. One need not go to the palace, far otherwise, or to cities and towns to discover the kernal of enduring civilisations. One finds it, if one wills to do so, in the backbone of the world, an ancient peasantry who have watched and still watch the progress of the stars'. Richmond was influential in the early stages of the Arts and Crafts Movement in his selection of bold colours and materials for the mosaics in St. Paul's Cathedral and in his collaboration with James Powell and Sons, glass makers. This new material expanded the glassmaker's palette and was favoured by artists of the Arts and Crafts Movement, primarily in the creation of stained glass windows and decorative art work. Richmond was the Slade Professor of Fine Art at the University of Oxford from 1878 to 1883, succeeding his friend and mentor John Ruskin. We are grateful to Simon Reynolds for his assistance in preparing this catalogue entry.
  • Creator:
    Sir William Blake Richmond KCB, RA, PPRBSA (1842 - 1921)
  • Creation Year:
    1863
  • Dimensions:
    Height: 8.25 in (20.96 cm)Width: 5.5 in (13.97 cm)
  • More Editions & Sizes:
    1 of 1Price: $26,747
  • Medium:
  • Movement & Style:
  • Period:
  • Condition:
  • Gallery Location:
    London, GB
  • Reference Number:
    1stDibs: LU5246442772

More From This Seller

View All
The Prelude, Early 20th Century Egg Tempera on board
By Francis Plummer
Located in London, GB
Francis Plummer 1930 - 2019 The Prelude Egg Tempera on board Image size: 39 ½ x 49 ¼ inches Original Frame This work comes from a rare collection of w...
Category

Early 20th Century Figurative Paintings

Materials

Egg Tempera

Exiled, Early 20th-Century Pre-Raphaelite Oil on board
By Francis Plummer
Located in London, GB
Francis Plummer 1930 - 2019 Exiled Oil on board Image size: 20 ½ x 24 ½ inches Framed This rare collection of works from the artists estate, painted i...
Category

Mid-20th Century Pre-Raphaelite Figurative Paintings

Materials

Oil

The Journey, Late 18th English Oil Landscape
Located in London, GB
Oil on panel Image size: 5 1/2 x 8 inches (14 x 2o cm) Contemporary hand made frame A charming scene of an English country lane, featuring a group of travellers resting on their journey. Two maids seem deep in discussion while they wait with a gentleman wearing a tricorn hat and fashionable maroon...
Category

Late 18th Century English School Landscape Paintings

Materials

Oil, Panel

The River Nymph, Early 20th Century Art-Deco Watercolour
By Ernest Collier
Located in London, GB
ERNEST COLLIER 1847 - 1911 THE RIVER NYMPH Watercolour Image size: 5 ½ x 4 inches (13 x 10 cm)
Category

Early 20th Century Art Deco Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Watercolor

THE CHOSEN PATH, English School 19th Century Watercolour
By John Edward Goodall
Located in London, GB
JOHN EDWARD GOODALL 1853 - 1920 THE CHOSEN PATH Pencil, watercolour and gouache, signed lower right Image size: 6 ¼ x 8 ¼ inches (16 x 21 cm) Hand made gilt frame John Edward Goodall was the son of Alfred Goodall and Mary Palmer. Alfred was a brother to Edward A. and Frederick Goodall, both accomplished artists. He was most prolific during the period between 1877 and 1911. In the 1891 census he is shown as being married to Grace, manager of the Sommerville Club, London but by 1901 he is to be found with a woman named Annie. John associated with a bohemian art circle and tended to have a corresponding lifestyle. The work produced by Goodall is well executed and often in watercolour. He trained at art school in London and travelled extensively. He was not the prolific artist like his uncles and a lot about his life is still...
Category

19th Century Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Watercolor, Gouache, Pencil

View Across a Lake, 19th Century British School Watercolour
Located in London, GB
British School 19th Century View across a lake Watercolour, monogrammed & dated ’02’ lower right Image size: 11 3⁄4 x 17 3⁄4 inches Framed This ethereal landscape certainly draws upon the nineteenth century European Romantic tradition. The cool palette of blues, silvers and whites creates a sense of wonderment, together with an atmosphere of solitude and journey’s end. At first glance the scene is rather surreal, but the presence of a dry-stone wall and iron railings in the foreground familiarises the landscape. THIS WORK IS PART OF OUR CURRENT EXHIBITION 'MOONLIGHT IN PAINTINGS AND WATERCOLOURS' CURRENTLY SHOWING AT DARNLEY FINE ART...
Category

Early 20th Century Landscape Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Watercolor

You May Also Like

James Joshua Guthrie - The Sower, Early 20th Century British Watercolour
Located in London, GB
JAMES JOSHUA GUTHRIE (1874-1952) The Sower Signed with monogram l.r., inscribed with title l.c. Watercolour, bodycolour and pen and ink 21 by 15.5 cm., 8 ¼ by 6 in. (frame size 39.5 by 33 cm., 15 ½ by 13 in. Provenanace: Pickford Waller...
Category

Early 1900s Pre-Raphaelite Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Watercolor

Late 1800s Naturalist Country Scene in Gouache on Paper
Located in Soquel, CA
Rich and detailed country landscape by an unknown artist (19th Century). A grove of large oak trees is carefully rendered on the right side of the composition. In the center, there a...
Category

Late 19th Century Naturalistic Landscape Paintings

Materials

Paper, Gouache

Sir William Blake Richmond - An Angel - 19th Century British Drawing
By Sir William Blake Richmond
Located in London, GB
SIR WILLIAM BLAKE RICHMOND, RA (1842-1921) Study of an Angel Pencil Unframed, in mount only 18.5 by 10.5 cm., 7 ¼ by 4 ¼ in. (mount size 32 by 25 cm., 12 ½ by 10 in.) William Bl...
Category

Late 19th Century Pre-Raphaelite Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Pencil

Young Shepherd plays the Lyre - Original Drawing - Early 20th Century
Located in Roma, IT
Young Shepherd plays the Lyre is an original drawing on paper. Is not signed and dated but we can attribute the period early 20th Century. The artis...
Category

Mid-20th Century Modern Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper

Frederick Henry Henshaw (1807-1891) - Watercolour, Figure in a Rural Landscape
By Frederick Henry Henshaw
Located in Corsham, GB
An exquisite watercolour with body colour, presented in a washline mount and gilt frame. Signed in the lower right by Frederick Henry Henshaw (1807-1891). Signed. On wove.
Category

19th Century Landscape Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Watercolor

A Surrey Common - Pre-Raphaelite landscape watercolour by George Price Boyce
Located in London, GB
GEORGE PRICE BOYCE, RWS (1826-1897) A Surrey Common in November Signed, inscribed and dated 1866.7; indistinctly signed and inscribed with title and the...
Category

1860s Pre-Raphaelite Landscape Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Watercolor