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Victorian Art in Britain |
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Helen Allingham
1849-1926
| Painter
of pretty, idealised, rural watercolours. Helen Paterson was born near
Burton-on-Trent, where her father was a medical practitioner. Shortly
after her birth the family moved to Cheshire. Doctor Paterson died in
the early 1860s after catching a highly contagious disease from a patient.
The family then moved to Birmingham, where Helen Paterson attended drawing
classes, before entering the Royal Academy Schools in 1867. Here she received
help and encouragement from Millais, always a generous-spirited individual
with younger artists. She was also befriended by Briton Riviere. Initially
she made a living producing engravings for various magazines and periodicals.
From 1870 to 1874 Helen Paterson worked for the Graphic Magazine, where
she was extremely well paid. In 1874 she married the Irish poet William
Allingham 1824-1889, who was over twenty years her senior.
Allingham is remembered today by the following poem : Four ducks
on a pond, Through her husband, Helen Allingham acquired a large circle of artistic and literary friends, including Tennyson, whose portrait she painted, Carlyle, whose portrait she painted a number of times, Ruskin, Browning, and Rossetti. Initially the couple lived in London, then in the early 1880s the moved to Witley in Surrey. At that time Surrey was still a charming rural county, which attracted a number of artists. Here the Allinghams brought up a large family. Quite how Helen Allingham managed to find the time to be such a productive artist is difficult to know. Her husband became increasingly eccentric as the years passed, gradually becoming totally nocturnal, and requiring silence during the day, whilst he slept. In 1888, the Allinghams moved back to London, selling their house to W Graham Robertson, artist and writer. William Allingham died shortly after this. Helen Allingham lived on for many years, but after the early 1900s, her output and success declined. I have heard that she developed eyesight problems, but I am unable to confirm this. Helen Allingham was a watercolour painter of the school of Myles Birkett Foster, though she was, I think, more talented than he was. She has been accused of sentimentalising rural life, and rightly so. But she was just a wonderful painter. Her watercolours show old cottages, with pretty gardens, and equally pretty children playing contentedly in them. The cottages and their gardens are, however, most attractively and skilfully painted, the colouring of the flowers being particularly nicely done. Also, at that time, cottages dating from the 13th century were being demolished and replaced with small Victorian dwellings. Helen Allingham often painted cottages just before they were demolished. You, the reader, are almost bound to have seen reproductions of these pictures on many calendars. Helen Allingham
died in 1926. W Graham Robertson recalled her as a delightful companion. Sources. Various. The source for some biographical detail being 'The Victorian World of Helen Allingham edtited by J Marsden***, published by the Brockhampton Press. An excellent book I strongly recommend.W Graham Robertson's 'Time Was,' was also a source of some information. The judgements, such as they are, are my own. *** Buy this book from : Amazon.co.uk If you would like to find out more about this artist then go to The Helen Allingham Society website
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