Seymour Lucas
| John Seymour Lucas | |
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John Seymour Lucas, by John Singer Sargent, 1905 (NPG)
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| Born |
21 December 1849 London |
| Died | 8 May 1923 (aged 73) Blythburg, Suffolk |
| Nationality | English |
| Education | St. Martin's Lane Art School; Royal Academy. |
| Known for | historical painting, portraiture, costume design. |
| Notable work | Rebel Hunting after Culloden |
John Seymour Lucas RA (21 December 1849 – 8 May 1923) was a Victorian English historical and portrait painter as well as an accomplished theatrical costume designer. He was born into an artistic London family, (he was the nephew of the painter John Lucas) and originally trained as a woodcarver, but turned his attention to portrait painting and entered first the St. Martin's Lane Art School and later the Royal Academy Schools. Here he met his French wife, fellow artist Marie Cornelissen, whom he married in 1877. Lucas' artistic education included extensive travels around Europe, particularly Holland and Spain, where he studied the Flemish and Spanish Masters. He first started exhibiting in 1872, was elected an associate member of the Royal Academy in 1876 and a full Royal Academician in 1898.
John Seymour Lucas was first and foremost a historical genre painter with a particular talent for realism in the depiction of costumes and interiors. Inspired by van Dyck and particularly Diego Velázquez, he excelled in depicting scenes from the English 16th- to 18th-century Tudor and Stuart periods, including in particular the Spanish Armada, the English Civil War and the Jacobite rebellions.
His first major work to achieve widespread public acclaim was Rebel Hunting after Culloden, executed in 1884. It was praised not only for the obvious tension between the muscular blacksmiths and the red-coated forces of law and order (or repression) but for the extraordinary realism in the depiction of the rough smithy and glowing horseshoe on the anvil.
As his reputation grew, Lucas increasingly mixed in society circles, and became firm friends with the famous society portrait painter John Singer Sargent who was his almost exact contemporary. A portrait of Lucas executed by John Singer Sargent is displayed in Tate Britain. Towards the 1890s John Seymour Lucas executed a number of major works for prestigious public buildings or royal clients. These include: The Flight of the Five Members (Houses of Parliament), The Granting of the Charter of the City of London (Royal Exchange), Reception by HM King Edward VII of the Moorish Ambassador (Royal Collection), HRH the Prince of Wales in German Uniform (Royal Collection)
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