Joseph Clark

Joseph Clark (4 July 18344 July 1926) was an English oil painter, well known in the Victorian era for his domestic scenes, especially of children.

Life

Born in 1834 in Cerne Abbas, Dorset, from the age of eleven Clark was educated as a boarder by William Barnes at his school in Dorchester, and according to a study of the school "exploited Barnes's training perhaps more successfully than any other pupil".

His parents brought Clark up as a member of the Swedenborgian New Church, and he remained a member all his life. He was elected a Member of the Institute of Oil Painters, Some of his paintings were named in the Dorset dialect, "Jeanes Wedden Day in Mornen", which is also the title of a poem by Barnes, is an example of this.