George Shepherd (artist)

George Shepherd
Watercolour of Aldermaston looking up the street with house on the left and right and a public house in the foreground on the right
Shepherd's watercolour of Aldermaston (1819)
Born(1784-12-05)5 December 1784
London
Died1862
NationalityBritish
EducationDr. Cox Macro's sketching academy
Known forDraughtsman, watercolour painter
AwardsSilver palette – Society of Arts
1803
Silver palette – Society of Arts
1804

George "Sidney" Shepherd (5 December 1784 – 1862) was a British draughtsman and watercolourist.[1] At one time, George Shepherd and George Sidney Shepherd were thought to be two different people;[2] it is now believed that they are one and the same person.[3]

Biography

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Shepherd was a topographical, architectural and landscape painter. Until 1793 he lived in France (where his younger brother was born), returning to Britain on the outbreak of the Great French War.[4] Shepherd was awarded a silver palette by the Society of Arts in 1803 and again in the following year.[4]

He was a contributor to John Britton's The Architectural Antiquities of Great Britain, vol IV, in the early 19th century.[4] See, for example, Tynemouth Priory, Ruins of East End.[5] He first married in 1812, Anna Sarah Lonnon of Bedfordshire. He Illustrated, with others, Architectura Ecclesiastica Londini (1819) by Charles Clarke.[6] See, for example, St. George's Bloomsbury 1811.[7] He worked on and off throughout his career with publisher, Rudolph Ackermann, who published a series of street views, Ackermann's repository of Arts, containing illustrations from both George, and his brother, Thomas Hosmer Shepherd.[1] Compare, for example, The London Commercial Sale Rooms, Mark Lane, 1813, by George Shepherd with St. Stephen's Church Walbrook, 1814, by T. H. Shepherd.[8] George Shepherd painted a watercolour of Aldermaston in 1819.

In 1831, Shepherd was one of the founder members of the resurrected New Society of Painters in Watercolours (now the Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours).[4] The society was first formed in 1807, as a result of the Royal Academy (of Arts), at that time, refusing to accept watercolours, as an important contribution to art. The society attracted leading watercolour artists of that period, including David Cox, Peter De Wint, William Blake, Samuel Prout, Paul Sandby, and Joseph Powell. It closed in 1812 due to financial problems.[9] In 1850 there was a movement to expel him for non–payment of dues, but on further investigation he was deemed to be impoverished and was instead made an Honorary Member. 10 years later, he became bedridden and was granted a pension.[4]

References

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  1. ^ a b "Shepherd, George Sidney". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/25331. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  2. ^ "Shepherd, George" . Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.
  3. ^ Bedfordshire Artists (2010) George "Sidney" Shepherd (1784 – 1862) (via archive.org)
  4. ^ a b c d e Mallalieu, Huon (1986). The Dictionary of British Watercolour Artists. Antique Collectors' Club. ISBN 1-85149-025-6.
  5. ^ Britton, John (1814). The Architectural Antinquities of Great Britain. Vol. IV. London: Longman, Hurst, Rees,Orme, and Brown. pp. 110 pl. I.
  6. ^ "Clarke, Charles (d.1840)" . Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.
  7. ^ Antique Prints Of Bloomsbury
  8. ^ John Buonarotti Papworth (1816) Select Views Of London Archived 28 September 2012 at the Wayback Machine
  9. ^ "A short history of the Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours". Royal Institute Of Painters In Water Colours. 2010. Retrieved 26 October 2020.
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Media related to George Sidney Shepherd at Wikimedia Commons