Susan P. Casteras

James Smetham: Artist, Author, Pre-Raphaelite Associate

Scholars Press 1995

Stron 193, papier kredowy, 44 czarno-białych i 8 kolorowych reprodukcji, stan bardzo dobry minus

A prolific painter, James Smetham (1[zasłonięte]821-18) produced over four hundred paintings as well as numerous etchings and book illustrations. Most of his paintings treated biblical themes and pastoral or arcadian subjects, and many themes found in his poems - solitary travellers, psychological isolation and alienation - recurred in his paintings. Stylistically, he moved from highly-finished portraits and Pre-Raphaelite inspired works and techniques (done partly under the tutelage of Rossetti) to more personalized, imaginative landscapes executed with a looser, deliberately generalized handling.

As a member of the Pre-Raphaelite circle, Smetham knew Dante Gabriel Rossetti, John Ruskin, Ford Madox Brown and Frederic Shields and his critical writings provide fresh insights into well-known figures such as Algernon Swinburne and Holman Hunt, as well as impressions of the contemporary literary and art scenes. His innumerable notebooks, journals, correspondence and 'stream-of-consciousness' letters - which show evidence of his mental illness and religious melancholia -were part of a rigorous daily regimen of painting, writing, Bible studies, walking, teaching and other activities that he followed compulsively throughout his life.

In this, the first book dedicated to the life and art of James Smetham, Susan P Casteras provides a compelling and detailed record of the beliefs and anxieties of a struggling Victorian artist coping with the frustrations of the contemporary art market and with the patronage system.

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List of Illustrations vii

Acknowledgments x

'With Life's Strange Burdens Much Opprest':

An Introduction to James Smetham 1

1. 'A Path to Tread': A Biographical Overview of Smetham's Life and Career 8

2. 'Something Rescued from the Form of Oblivion': Smetham's Squaring, Monumentalism and Ventilation 31

3. 'A Puzzling Position in the Universe':Smetham as Artist and Methodist 45

4. 'One of the Reliefs of Life': Smetham the Poet 52

5. 'Full of Restless Variety': Smetham's Impressions of Contemporary Literary and Artistic Worlds 63

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6. 'Friends in Council': William Davies, John Ruskin, and Frederic J. Shields 72

7. 'A Niche in the Charmed Circle': Dante Gabriel Rossetti and the Pre-Raphaelite Circle 81

8. Painted Sermons: Scriptural Subjects and 'Idylls in Oil' 101

9. 'Murder Crowing in the Press': Criticism, Audiences and Studio Life 128

10. 'All Very Serious Art is Dreadfully Dependent upon Money': The Art Market and Patronage (Co-researched and co-written with Catherine Grout) 147

11. 'Glittering Fragments': The Final Years 161

12. 'For Love of Beauty, Not Applause': Smetham in Context 168

Notes 172

Selected Bibliography 186

Index 189