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William Shayer Senior Art

British, 1787-1879
William Joseph Shayer, senior was a self-taught artist, who began by painting decorations on rush-bottom chairs, and moved on to painting carriages in the town of Guildford, after which he started doing a heraldic painting. Ultimately he began painting oil on canvas and became skilled at portraying woodland scenes with gipsies, people and animals in front of country inns and farmhouses, and beach scenes crowded with boats and fishermen. He lived mainly in the south of England, in Shirley, Southampton, but painted throughout Hampshire and in a wooded district in the southwest part of Hampshire called the New Forest. Michael Hoy, a wealthy Southampton merchant, was one of his most enthusiastic patrons and bought many of Shayer’s paintings of the area. Shayer lived a long life, during which he had two wives and ten children. His eldest son, William Joseph Shayer, junior (1811-1892) was also a painter and painted in a style very similar to his father. Their paintings are easily confused, which is made all the more difficult by the fact that they probably collaborated on several paintings in the elder Shayer’s later years. Three of Shayer senior’s younger sons – Edward Dasherwood Shayer (1821-1864), Henry Thring Shayer (1825-1894) and Charles Walker Shayer (1826-1914) – became painters as well, and all assisted him at times in his studio. William Shayer, senior died at the age of 92 on 21 December 1879 at his home at Bladon Lodge near Southampton. William Shayer, senior was a competent landscape artist, but he is best known as a figure painter. His work is reminiscent in some respects to the paintings of George Morland, another very popular figure painter. Shayer’s work though has a depth and brightness to it missing from the paintings of many of his contemporaries, due to his skilful application of glaze (i.e., spreading a thin, oily, transparent layer of paint over a dry opaque paint). He exhibited at the Royal Academy (6 works), the British Institution (82 works), and at the Suffolk Street Gallery of the Society of British Artists (338 works). He also exhibited in many of the lesser-known Victorian art venues as well. His works are on display at many museums including the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Tate Gallery, the Glasgow Art Gallery, and the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art.
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Artist: William Shayer Senior
19th Century genre oil painting of fisher folk on a beach
By WILLIAM SHAYER SENIOR (1787-1879)
Located in Nr Broadway, Worcestershire
William Shayer British, (1787-1879) Fisher Folk on the Beach Oil on canvas, signed & dated 1839 Image size: 27.25 inches x 35.25 inches Size including frame: 37.25 inches x 45.25 in...
Category

19th Century Victorian William Shayer Senior Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Sailboats on a Calm Sea, Sky and Harbor 19th century
By WILLIAM SHAYER SENIOR (1787-1879)
Located in Hillsborough, NC
Seascape by famous artist of the period, this fine oil painting on canvas shows us soft hues in skies and waters, with a white-sailed ship in the center. One of Shayer’s more beauti...
Category

Mid-19th Century Naturalistic William Shayer Senior Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil

A Bustling Town Scene
By WILLIAM SHAYER SENIOR (1787-1879)
Located in St. Albans, GB
William Shayer Senior Oil on Canvas. Signed bottom right Canvas Size: 30 x 40" (76 x 102cm) Outside Frame Size: 39 x 49" (99 x 125cm) 1787-1879 William Shayer was born in Southam...
Category

Mid-19th Century Victorian William Shayer Senior Art

Materials

Oil

Oil Painting by William Shayer Snr "An Inn Interior"
By WILLIAM SHAYER SENIOR (1787-1879)
Located in Mere, GB
Oil Painting by William Shayer Snr "An Inn Interior" 1787- 1879 Leading regency rural landscape painter from Southampton. He exhibited at the Royal Academy, B.I and 338 times at the ...
Category

19th Century William Shayer Senior Art

Materials

Oil

Fisherfolk On The Beach, 19th Century
By WILLIAM SHAYER SENIOR (1787-1879)
Located in Blackwater, GB
Fisherfolk On The Beach, 19th Century by William SHAYER (1787-1879) Fine Large 19th Century English scene with fisherfolk on the beach overlooking the coastline, oil on canvas. E...
Category

19th Century William Shayer Senior Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil

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