William Powell Frith

WILLIAM POWELL FRITH RA

Studley 1819 - 1909 London

William Powell Frith was best known for his historical genre paintings and his richly detailed glimpses of contemporary Victorian life. 

Frith had not been keen to become an artist, but his parents insisted upon him pursuing his talents. He studied at Sass's Academy and the Royal Academy Schools. He exhibited at the Royal Academy for sixty years.  He was elected associate in 1845 and was made a member in 1852. He also showed at the Royal Society of Artists, Suffolk Street and the British Institution.

Frith was friends with the group of artists known as The Clique, Richard Dadd, Augustus Leopold Egg and Henry Nelson O'Neill. In his youth, Frith was most drawn to portraying scenes from literature. He shifted from portrayal of scenes from Shakespeare, Scott and Sterne to the portrayal of modern life at the same moment as the blossoming of Pre-Raphaelitism. His first great success in the genre was Ramsgate Sands of 1854, which was heralded as an excellent panorama of Victorian life and was purchased by Queen Victoria. His other great triumphs in this panoramic manner were Derby day of 1858, The Railway Station of 1862, The Salon d'Or, Homburg of 1871 and A Private View of the Royal Academy of 1883. He also painted several moralistic series such as The Road to Ruin of 1878 and The race for Wealth of 1880.

Many of Frith's Royal Academy successes were purchased or bequeath to eminent museum collections including the Victoria and Albert Museum. Derby Day is one of the Tate Gallery's most popular exhibits and the Aberdeen Art Gallery holds a self-portrait.