James Pearson (painter)

Last updated

James Pearson (died 1838) [1] was an Irish-born glass painter, active in London.

Contents

Life

Pearson's Brazen Serpent in the Wilderness, after a design by John Hamilton Mortimer, in the east window of Salisbury Cathedral. Salisbury Cathedral Stained Glass 2 (5690703307).jpg
Pearson's Brazen Serpent in the Wilderness, after a design by John Hamilton Mortimer, in the east window of Salisbury Cathedral.

Pearson was born in Dublin about the middle of the 18th century. He learnt his art in Bristol. [2] In 1768 [3] he married Eglington Margaret Paterson, also a glass painter. She was the daughter of Samuel Paterson, a well-known book-auctioneer. [2]

Pearson and his wife came to public attention through works shown at the Society of Artists of Great Britain in its exhibitions in 1775–77. Although the couple usually worked on separate pieces they occasionally collaborated, as on their stained glass copy after Carlo Maratti’s Salutation, shown in 1775. A later joint work was one after Guido Reni’s Aurora, shown in London in 1793. [4] The Pearsons used a technique in which the image was painted in enamels on sheets of plain glass and then fired. [5]

The Pearsons exhibited regularly throughout the 1780s and 1790s at their homes in London, first in Church Street, Westminster, and later in Great Newport Street, and also at the new Pantheon in Oxford Street. [4] It was there, in 1781, that Pearson showed his spectacular Brazen Serpent in the Wilderness, after a design by John Hamilton Mortimer, before its installation in the east window of Salisbury Cathedral, where it still remains. [4] A critic in the Morning Chronicle admired the way in which "the lead and iron are intirely concealed, so as not to interrupt the outline either of the figures or drapery, by which the whole appears as one entire plate of glass, without joining or division". [4]

His patrons included Horace Walpole, for whom he executed a window of a cobbler whistling to a bird in a cage for the refectory at Strawberry Hill, and William Beckford, for whom he made a portrait of Thomas Becket for Fonthill. [4]

The catalogue of an exhibition held by the Pearsons in 1821 was entitled Celebrated Cartoons of Raphael, and Various Other Beautiful Specimens, by Mr. and Mrs. Pearson, Appointed Painters to Her Majesty, on Glass, in Vitrified Colours, at No. 112, Great Russell-Street, Bloomsbury. [6] The paintings after Raphael were by his wife. [4]

He also made windows for Brasenose College, Oxford and the church of St Botolph, Aldersgate in London. He painted some designs after James Barry. [2]

He exhibited as late as 1821, and died in 1838, [1] his wife having died in 1823. [4]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ford Madox Brown</span> British painter (1821-1893)

Ford Madox Brown was a British painter of moral and historical subjects, notable for his distinctively graphic and often Hogarthian version of the Pre-Raphaelite style. Arguably, his most notable painting was Work (1852–1865). Brown spent the latter years of his life painting the twelve works known as The Manchester Murals, depicting Mancunian history, for Manchester Town Hall.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">J. M. W. Turner</span> English painter (1775–1851)

Joseph Mallord William Turner, known in his time as William Turner, was an English Romantic painter, printmaker and watercolourist. He is known for his expressive colouring, imaginative landscapes and turbulent, often violent marine paintings. He left behind more than 550 oil paintings, 2,000 watercolours, and 30,000 works on paper. He was championed by the leading English art critic John Ruskin from 1840, and is today regarded as having elevated landscape painting to an eminence rivalling history painting.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edward Burne-Jones</span> English artist (1833–1898)

Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones, 1st Baronet, was a British painter and designer associated with the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood which included Dante Gabriel Rossetti, John Millais, Ford Madox Brown and Holman Hunt. Burne-Jones worked with William Morris as a founding partner in Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Co in the design of decorative arts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Henry Holiday</span> British artist (1839–1927)

Henry Holiday was a British historical genre and landscape painter, stained-glass designer, illustrator, and sculptor. He is part of the Pre-Raphaelite school of art.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Evie Hone</span> Irish artist

Eva Sydney Hone RHA, usually known as Evie, was an Irish painter and stained glass artist. She is considered to be an early pioneer of cubism, although her best known works are stained glass. Her most notable pieces are the East Window in the Chapel at Eton College, which depicts the Crucifixion, and My Four Green Fields, which is now in the Government Buildings in Dublin.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St George's Cathedral, London</span> Church in London, England

St George's Cathedral is an Antiochian Orthodox church in Albany Street, St Pancras, in the London Borough of Camden. Built to the designs of James Pennethorne, it was consecrated as an Anglican place of worship called Christ Church in 1837. It became an Orthodox cathedral in 1989.

Robert Abraham (1773–1850) was an English building surveyor and later architect in London. He was the son of a builder and was educated as a surveyor as a pupil of James Bowen. He turned to architecture after 1818, and was chiefly employed by the leading Roman Catholic families in England, including the Duke of Norfolk and the Earl of Shrewsbury.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">British and Irish stained glass (1811–1918)</span>

A revival of the art and craft of stained-glass window manufacture took place in early 19th-century Britain, beginning with an armorial window created by Thomas Willement in 1811–12. The revival led to stained-glass windows becoming such a common and popular form of coloured pictorial representation that many thousands of people, most of whom would never commission or purchase a painting, contributed to the commission and purchase of stained-glass windows for their parish church.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas Willement</span>

Thomas Willement was an English stained glass artist, called "the father of Victorian stained glass", active from 1811 to 1865.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Christopher Whall</span>

Christopher Whitworth Whall was a British stained-glass artist who worked from the 1880s and on into the 20th century. He is widely recognised as a leader in the Arts and Crafts Movement and a key figure in the modern history of stained glass.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Anning Bell</span> English artist and designer

Robert Anning Bell was an English artist and designer.

Donald MacDonald (1841–1916) was a leading stained glass artisan and designer in 19th century Boston. Born Donald McDonald, he altered the spelling of his surname to "MacDonald" around 1877.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wilhelmina Geddes</span> British artist

Wilhelmina GeddesHRUA was an Irish stained glass artist who was an important figure within the Irish Arts and Crafts movement and also the twentieth century British stained glass revival. Notable works include windows at St Bartholomew's, St Peter's Church, and the King Albert Memorial Window, St Martin's Cathedral.

Eglington Margaret Pearson was an English stained glass painter.

Edward Chatfield was an English portrait painter who also painted some historical subjects.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Swaine</span>

John Swaine, was an English draughtsman and engraver.

Mary Martha Pearson was an English portrait painter.

Kathleen Quigly was an Irish stained glass artist, illustrator and painter. She was also a metal worker and jewellery designer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Viola Paterson</span>

Mary Viola Paterson was a British painter, wood engraver and colour woodcut artist.

References

  1. 1 2 Cust, L.H., Sarah Baylis (2004). "Pearson, James (c.1740–1838)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography . Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/21716 . Retrieved 24 July 2015.{{cite encyclopedia}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)(Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  2. 1 2 3 Bryan 1889
  3. ↑ "England, Middlesex, Westminster, Parish Registers, 1538-1912". FamilySearch. Retrieved 21 July 2015. citing St Martin In The Fields, Middlesex, England, City of Westminster Archives Centre, London; FHL microfilm 561,156.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Cobb, Joanna. "From Parrots to Princes: Exhibitions of Contemporary Stained Glass in Late Eighteenth-century London". Vidimus.
  5. ↑ Newton, William; Partington, Charles Frederick (1821). "Stained Glass by Mr. and Mrs. Pearson". Newton's London Journal of Arts and Sciences. 2: 359.
  6. ↑ Pearson, James (1821). About This Book . Retrieved 2 February 2013.

Sources

Attribution:

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.