Joseph Vickers De Ville

Antique 19th century English Impressionist classical landscape with figures

circa 1900

Joseph Vickers de Ville was an English painter of landscapes and rural subjects. A son of farmers Joseph and Mary Deville, he was born in Eaton, Derbyshire, but he is considered a Wolverhampton artist, as he lived most of his life in Compton, a suburb of Wolverhampton. He was in Wolverhampton by 1881, and the 1881 census shows that at that time his household included his widowed mother and brothers Richard and John. Vickers de Ville was not professionally trained and did not consider himself a professional artist, however, his artistic gift was recognized and appreciated. In Compton, he maintained a studio in Tettenhall Wood. From 1887, he exhibited at the Royal Academy. Between 1876 and 1920, 68 of his works were shown at the Royal Birmingham Society of Artists. He was later elected a full member of the Royal Birmingham Society of Artists in 1917. Vickers de Ville worked in both oils and watercolors. His favorite subject was North Wales, where he first obtained his inspiration amid the grand and imposing scenery, with a particular inclination to coastal landscapes, streams and rivers and investigation of light effects in the open air. It was noticed that few can rival him in depicting torrent, rock, river and trees. His landscapes of the Cotswolds, Malvern, Cheshire and Staffordshire are also well known. Often they expressed the mood of melancholy and solitude, like his painting The Moonlight, which was to illustrate Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata. This is possibly an influence of that. Vickers de Ville's exhibition was successfully held at Wolverhampton Art Gallery in 1915. It presented 64 paintings and numerous sketches, many of which were loaned by Scottish, Liverpool and London patrons. The exhibition was favorably reviewed and it was particularly mentioned that a great many of his pictures are in the United States, and others have found owners in France, Germany and South America. Most of them were bought by the Americans. The demand from abroad is one of the reasons why Wolverhampton people have been able to see so little of his work. In 1923, there was another exhibition of his drawings. Several paintings by Vickers de Ville have been preserved at Wolverhampton Art Gallery. His works also can be found at McLean Museum and Art Gallery, Greenock, Sheffield Museum and Art Gallery and other public and private collections. Little is known about de Ville's personal life. He married in 1894, and with his wife, Mary had at least one child, a son Claude born in 1895. The 1901 census also shows a daughter named Gladys, born in about 1886, which is well before their marriage. He exhibited at the Royal Academy, Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester, Glasgow Institute, Royal Institute of Oil Painters and Fine Art Society.