Sentimental pictures of the village children of Frederick Morgan

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

Today, lovers of sentimental painting have the opportunity to get acquainted with the magnificent gallery of genre paintings by the English artist who worked at the turn of the last two centuries and created a number of paintings dedicated to rural children.

The theme of children in the 18th century was very winning. These paintings dispersed among the collections of wealthy art lovers at an enviable speed. How could you not admire the images of cute angels: blue eyes, a sugar smile, sincerity, the desire to imitate adults in everything. And the fact that plot canvases depicting the children of the English painter were very popular even during his lifetime was quite natural.

A bit from the artist's biography

Frederick Morgan was born in London in 1847. His father John Morgan was also an artist. At one time he graduated from the school of design, and later became a member of the Society of British Artists, painted paintings on historical and biblical themes.

John, firmly deciding to make an artist out of his son, began to personally paint with him. And with these activities, the father laid a solid foundation for his son's creative career. Years later, Frederick Morgan confessed: "My father taught me how to make paintings."

It was thanks to John Morgan that Frederick's career began early enough. When the young artist was only 16 years old, he plucked up the courage to send his painting "Rehearsal" for an exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts. The painting showed two old musicians rehearsing for a village choir. To my great surprise, the painting was taken to the exhibition. Moreover, after the exhibition it was bought by a well-known collector for £ 20.

After the first success, Morgan Jr. began to study with even greater zeal. They started talking about him as "the only boy in Aylesbury - a real artist." However, three years later, the Society of British Artists did not qualify Frederick as an artist, and he had to look for himself in another profession.

For the next few years, the young artist worked in a photo studio, earning money by painting portraits of clients for whom photographs were not enough. Later, the artist recalled that this was a good school for him: such work required great attention to the smallest details and scrupulousness. Having the skills of a painter, Frederick received numerous orders for portraits from photographs, which brought a good income.

But painting attracted Morgan Jr. even more forcefully, and he decided to leave the photo studio and once again try to arrange his career as an artist. Turning to plot painting, he creates many canvases, the heroes of which are children.

Despite the fact that Frederick was an excellent portrait painter, he had considerable problems with depicting animals. Therefore, when he needed to depict dogs, cats or birds in a painting, Frederick turned to his friends, the artists Arthur John Elsley or Allen Sayley, who were good animal painters, for help.

Fred Morgan was married three times. His first wife, Alice Mary Havers (1850-1890), was also an artist, she painted landscapes. Three children were born in this marriage. Morgan's eldest son also became an artist; he regularly exhibited his landscapes and portraits at the Royal Academy under the pseudonym Val Havers. From his second marriage, Morgan had two more children, one of whom also became an artist. Little is known about the third marriage. Of course, five children and beloved wives constantly inspired the artist in his work, especially when he took up the theme of a happy childhood and motherhood.

The artist's heritage also includes a magnificent romantic painting, where the artist vividly showed the relationship between couples in love.

I would also like to note that Morgan is not the only one who has addressed this topic. Over the past few centuries, the children's theme in painting has become a special concern for many masters of painting. Small people attracted them with their cheerfulness, sincerity and desire to imitate adults through games. During this time, painters have created a huge gallery of subject paintings that have entered the world history of art and dedicated to children. Some of them can be seen in the review: What children played 150 years ago: Atmospheric paintings by world famous artists.