John Simmons

John Simmons (1823–1876) was a British miniature painter and illustrator, known primarily for his watercolours of ethereal fairyland scenes, often illustrating Shakespearian or other literary works (such as his illustrations for A Midsummer Night's Dream). He was one of several popular Victorian artists who together created "a genre of forest idyll" in their fairy paintings. They are often grouped with the Pre-Raphaelites. Simmons lived in Bristol, and also painted portraits. He was elected to membership of the Bristol Academy of the Fine Arts in 1849. He died in November 1876 and is buried at Arnos Vale Cemetery.

Fairy painting

The typical fairy painting is strongly rooted in the literary influences of Romanticism, as well as in the Victorian cultural period. Among the most significant of these influences were the themes of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream and The Tempest. Other literary works, such as Edmund Spenser's The Faerie Queene and Alexander Pope's The Rape of the Lock have been cited as contributing influences as well.

Simmons is best known as a specialist in painting female fairies, frequently nude. According to Christopher Wood, an expert in Victorian art, Simmons' technique demonstrated influence from Joseph Noel Paton, who utilised a very detailed style. Wood also suggested further influence for Simmons' style came from William Edward Frost and William Etty. Simmons' paintings of fairies are given a surreal effect by his skilful use of light and the realistic detail he adopts for portraying the animals and plants. Wood described Simmons' A Fairy among Convolvulus as "a typical Simmons pin-up" and hypothesises the paintings were "distinctly titillating". Other pieces of artwork by Simmons with a fairy theme include: Hermia and the Fairies, which was also based on Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream and completed in 1861; The Honey Bee Steals from the Bumble Bees; and The Evening Star.