The Times Moday 14th November 1904.

Death Notice. PRINSEP

On the 11th inst. From the result of an operation Valentine Cameron Prinsep RA, second son of the late Henry Thoby Prinsep, aged 66 years.

OBITUARY Mr Val Prinsep RA.

Another serious loss has befallen the Royal Academy by the death of Mr Valentine Cameron Prinsep RA, which occurred on Friday at Holland-park from the effects of an operation. To all his acquaintances the sight of his tall and sturdy figure and the knowledge that his eminent father lived to be 86, seemed to promise a long life to "Val" as he was always affectionately called; and the news of his death will therefore be as unexpected as it is lamentable.

He was born in 1838, the second of three sons of Henry Thoby Prinsep, all of whom became distinguished men. The father was one of the ablest of Indian Civil Servants of his time; he was Persian Secretary to the Government, and was in the confidence of many Viceroys and after his return home was for sixteen years a member of the Council of India. What was even more important for his second son was that he settled at (the old), Little Holland-house, became a close friend of G F Watts, and made his home a centre of artistic and literary society. Under these influences young Prinsep grew up; his genial nature, his fine physique, and his real gifts as an artist made him the friend of the best of the young painters and the intimate of Burne-Jones and all the group. His first work was done in association with Rossetti and Morris was at Oxford, where he painted one of the compartments of the Hall of the Oxford Union; an episode of which he published, some years ago, a very amusing account. A little later he spent some time in Paris, and it is no secret that he unconsciously sat for the part of big Taffy in his friend Du Maurier's famous novel "Trilby." After his time of training was over, Prinsep returned to London and began to exhibit with great success. His art had a close affinity with that of his lifelong friend Leighton, and we recollect one early picture of his, the figure of a girl carrying a sheaf of corn, which was as classical as any Leighton and perhaps finer in colour. He first exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1862, and never failed to show a picture, or more than one up to the end of his life. In 1879 he was elected ARA, and in 1894 was promoted to RA. A great event in his career, was his being chosen to paint Lord Lytton's great Durbar of 1877, when the Queen was declared Empress of India; and the choice was justified both by Prinsep's merits as a painter and by his family's Indian record. The vast canvas was exhibited in 1880, and is now, we believe, in Buckingham Palace.

In 1884 Mr Prinsep married Miss Florence Leyland, daughter of Mr Leyland, of Prince's-gate, shipowner, connoisseur, and art patron. After Mr Leyland's death, some very instructive extracts from his correspondence with Rossetti, Whistler, and other artists were published by Princep in the Art Journal. But this was by no means his only excursion into Literature. He wrote an account of his Indian tour; he wrote two novels; and two plays of his "Cousin Dick," and "M le Duc" were produced at London theatres. He was, in truth, almost too versatile. In Who's Who specifying his recreations, he wrote down "most games"; and indeed up to middle life he excelled in many of them, beside all the other accomplishments of which he was possessed. When Millais died there was some talk of electing Prinsep as his successor in the Presidency. Perhaps had he concentrated himself more upon painting he might have had the post, if he had chosen to accept it; but he was a rich man, with all-round tastes and interests, and he had not latterly been sufficiently a painter. None the less, his loss will be deeply regretted by his colleagues, and by a very large circle of friends.

Mr Prinsep's wife survives him, and he leaves three sons.

A Memorial Service will be held at St Paul's Cathedral at 11.30 on Wednesday next. Friends desiring to attend are required to apply to Mr Charles T Knight, 1 Holland-park-road, Kensington, for a card of admission. The interment will take place on the afternoon of the same day at Brompton Cemetery, at an hour to be fixed hereafter.

MY COMMENTS

This otherwise excellent obituary is notable for a glaring sin of omission. It totally fails to mention the mother of the artist, Sara Prinsep (1816-1887), one of the seven remarkable Pattle sisters, who included Julia Margaret Cameron (1815-1879), the pioneering photographer. Sara was the focus and prime-mover in the remarkable artistic and literary salon she created at Little Holland House. Her much older husband Thoby was less involved. G F Watts came to visit, and stayed at the house for many years, and it was his influence, which decided the young Val Prinsep to become an artist. Regular visitors to Little Holland House in the 1850s included many of the most famous artistic and literary figures of the day. Guests included Tennyson, Dickens, Browning, Burne-Jones, and Rossetti. Sara Prinsep was regarded by her circle as a figure of unique charm and intellect.

As mentioned in the obituary Val Prinsep was a robust young man, with a physique like a heavyweight prize-fighter. When he was young he was 6 feet 2 inches tall and weighed 230 lbs, without, it was said, an ounce of fat. It was widely held that he did not fulfill his artistic potential, with commentators speculating this was due to his marriage to the fabulously wealthy Florence Leyland, or the breadth of his interests. Perhaps it was a combination of both? Val Prinsep's artistic debt to, and lifelong friendship with Lord Leighton are mentioned-he was with the PRA when he died. He was a genial, popular man. One of the three sons of Val and Florence was Anthony Leyland Prinsep, a well-known theatrical manager, producer of many successful plays at the Globe Theatre in the 1920s.

Prinsep Biography

PHR. 3/12/2002.