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William Edward Frost Paintings

English, 1810-1877

William Edward Frost was an English painter of the Victorian era. Virtually alone among English artists in the middle Victorian period, he devoted his practice to the portrayal of the female nude. Frost was educated in the schools of the Royal Academy. At the beginning of 1829, he established a reputation as a portrait painter before branching into historical and mythological subjects, including the subgenre of fairy painting that was characteristic of Victorian art. In 1839, he won the Royal Academy's gold medal for his Prometheus Bound, and in 1843, he won a prize in the Westminster Hall competition for his Una Alarmed by Fauns (a subject from Spenser's The Faerie Queene). He was elected an associate member of the Royal Academy in 1846 and a full member in 1870. Frost is widely recognized as a follower of William Etty, who preceded him as the primary British painter of nudes in the second quarter of the nineteenth century. Despite the prudishness of the Victorian era, Frost's relatively chaste nudes were popular and his career was financially successful. At their best, Frost's works have a distinctive jewel-like charm, his attractive young women models possessing a pert, self-conscious quality, which makes them more titillating than Etty's powerful studies.

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Artist: William Edward Frost
A Young Lady

A Young Lady

By William Edward Frost

Located in London, GB

Oil on board, unsigned Image size: 5 1/2 x 4 1/2 inches (14 x 11.5 cm) Original 19th century oval mount and frame Provenance; With Richard Naworth, Blackburn William Edward Frost (September 1810 – 4 June 1877) was an English painter of the Victorian era. Virtually alone among English artists in the middle Victorian period, he devoted his practice to the portrayal of the female nude. Specialising in portraiture from about 1830, Frost painted more than 300 portraits during a 15-year period, and showed some as his first exhibits from 1836. William Edward Frost was born in Wandsworth, then in Surrey, in September 1810. He showed artistic talent from an early age, and was encouraged in this by his father: first by his arranging drawing lessons with a Miss Evatt, a neighbouring amateur, and then, in 1825, by his introducing him to William Etty, who became his mentor. On Etty’s recommendation, he entered Henry Sass’s School for Drawing and Painting at 6 Charlotte Street, in 1826, and spent three years there, while also studying at the British Museum each winter. Frost was educated in the schools of the Royal Academy, beginning in 1829; he established a reputation as a portrait painter before branching into historical and mythological subjects, including the subgenre of fairy painting...

Category

19th Century English School William Edward Frost Paintings

Materials

Oil, Board

Portrait of a Young Woman at the Seashore - British Victorian art oil painting
Portrait of a Young Woman at the Seashore - British Victorian art oil painting

Portrait of a Young Woman at the Seashore - British Victorian art oil painting

By William Edward Frost

Located in Hagley, England

This beautiful oil painting on canvas dates to circa 1840 and is by British Victorian artist William Edward Frost who was noted for his depiction of nudes and feminine beauty. The ov...

Category

19th Century Realist William Edward Frost Paintings

Materials

Oil

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Previously Available Items
19th Century British oil of a nude by water by William Edward Frost
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William Edward Frost RA - Mid 19th Century Signed Gouache, The Grape Gatherers
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William Edward Frost paintings for sale on 1stDibs.

Find a wide variety of authentic William Edward Frost paintings available for sale on 1stDibs. You can also browse by medium to find art by William Edward Frost in oil paint, paint, board and more. Not every interior allows for large William Edward Frost paintings, so small editions measuring 5 inches across are available. Customers who are interested in this artist might also find the work of Benjamin Williams Leader, John Horace Hooper, and Francis Plummer. William Edward Frost paintings prices can differ depending upon medium, time period and other attributes. On 1stDibs, the price for these items starts at $4,218 and tops out at $6,015, while the average work can sell for $5,116.