William Blake Richmond

Sir William Blake Richmond (29 November 184211 February 1921) was a British painter, sculptor and a designer of stained glass and mosaic. He is best known for his portrait work and decorative mosaics in St Paul's Cathedral in London.

Richmond was influential in the early stages of the Arts and Crafts Movement in his selection of bold colours and materials for the mosaics in St Paul's Cathedral and in his collaboration with James Powell and Sons, glass makers, in creating new colours and materials. This new material expanded the glassmaker's palette and was favoured by artists of the Arts and Crafts Movement, primarily in the creation of stained-glass windows and decorative art work. Richmond was the Slade Professor of Fine Art at the University of Oxford from 1878 to 1883, succeeding his friend and mentor John Ruskin.

Early life and education William Blake Richmond was born on 29 November 1842 in Marylebone. His father, George Richmond , was an important portrait painter; his mother was Julia Tatham (1811–1881). He was named after a close friend of his father, the poet William Blake.

Richmond was tutored at home due to health problems as a child. In 1858, at the age of 14, Richmond enrolled at the Royal Academy of Art where he studied drawing and painting for three years. He also spent time at John Ruskin's house, where he was given private art lessons by the prominent artist. In 1859, Richmond painted his first picture, Enid and Geraint. He sold the painting for £20, spending the money to tour Italy for six weeks with a tutor. His time spent viewing the Old Master paintings in Italy had a major impact on Richmond's development as an artist and later career. His favourite Italian painters were Michelangelo, Tintoretto and Giotto.

Artistic career Painting

Richmond became a successful portrait painter at an early age. In 1861, at the age of 19, he exhibited his first major work for the Royal Academy. The painting, a portrait of his two brothers, was highly praised by Ruskin.

Richmond was elected to the Royal Academy in 1861, where he continued to exhibit his work until 1877. In 1865, Richmond returned to Italy, where he lived in Rome for four years and studied art.

Mosaic design

Attaining financial success as a portrait painter led Richmond to explore new areas of interest. He began working on large, allegorical paintings, and developed an interest in the design of stained glass mosaic.

When completed, the newly remodeled quire and apse, met with public controversy. Several people criticised the mosaics as not being traditionally British and did not belong in a Cathedral. There was a continual debate throughout the 1890s, "partly reflecting a High-Low church debate between ornament and plainness."

Stained-glass design

Richmond collaborated with Harry James Powell of James Powell and Sons, glassmakers, in developing new colours for the mosaic glass to be installed in St Paul's Cathedral. The new colours and combinations of those colours began to be offered in the standard Powell glass palette from the early 1890s. The expanded glass selection inspired artists in the early stages of the Arts and Crafts Movement. The new, heavier glass, often with light streaks of colour was used by artists in newly commissioned stained-glass windows and decorative work.

The influence of the mosaic work done at the cathedral and the invention of new medieval-like colours by Powell, influenced Richmond in the stained-glass windows that he designed for St Mary's, Stretton, Staffordshire. Richmond's five-light east window in the chancel of St Mary's Church, Stretton, East Staffordshire, completed in 1896, was a successful translation of his previous work into stained glass. His mosaic-influenced work at Stretton is displayed in the surface of the glass, roughly painted to resemble the effects of mosaic.

Environmental activism Richmond was an early advocate for clean air in London. He founded the Coal Smoke Abatement Society (CSAS) in 1898 and was a member of CSAS for a number of years.

Richmond wrote magazine articles and gave public lectures on the danger of coal smoke. CSAS was the oldest environmental non-governmental organisation (NGO) in the United Kingdom and became Environmental Protection UK.

Awards and recognition 1888: Elected Associate of the Royal Academy of Art ARA 1891: Elected Master of the Art Workers' Guild 1895: Elected Royal Academician of the Royal Academy of Art RA 1897: Awarded Order of the Bath 1908: Elected 35th President of The Birmingham and Midland Institute

Personal life Richmond married Charlotte Foster (1841–1865) at Marylebone in 1864. Charlotte died a year later on 31 December 1865.

He subsequently married Clara Jane Richards (1846–1915) at Ryde, Isle of Wight in 1867. Their first two children were Francis, born in Italy in 1868, and Helen, born in Algiers in 1870. The family returned to England in 1870 and moved to Beavor Lodge, Hammersmith, where their sons Herbert, Julius, Ernest, John, and Arthur were born between 1871 and 1879.

Richmond died at his home, Beavor Lodge, in Hammersmith on 11 February 1921.

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