William Gale

William Gale (18231909) was an English Victorian painter, often of Orientalist subjects.

Life and career

Gale was born in London. He exhibited annually at the Royal Academy 184493, but was never elected a member. He exhibited regularly at the British Institution and at the Royal Society of British Artists.

In 1851, he married and travelled to Italy for his honeymoon. Like many of his contemporary artists, he travelled to the Middle East, in 1862 and again in 1867. He was a prolific artist; his output included sentimental, biblical and mythological subjects, and portraits and Orientalist pictures. There are examples of his work in the Tate Gallery, in the Glasgow Museums, and in the Art Gallery of New South Wales.

His painting Christ's Entry into Jerusalem features in the sleeve notes of the 2011 album 90 Bisodol (Crimond) by the band Half Man Half Biscuit.

Selected works

Young Celadon and his Amelia, 1845 Chaucer's Dream, 1850 Cydippe, 1851 The Captured Runaway, 1856 (John Scott Collection) Nazareth, (wood engraving), 1856 Eastern Woman, 1856 Eyes to the Blind, 1861 After the Spanish, c. 1861 Blind Bartemeus, 1865 Nearing Home, 1866 The Holy Family, 1866 Interior, Algiers, 1867 The Favourite, date unknown