Walter Shaw Sparrow
| Walter Shaw Sparrow | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1862 Cymmau Hall, Flintshire, Wales |
| Died | 11 March 1940 (aged 78) |
| Occupation | Writer and art critic |
| Known for | books about British sporting artists |
Walter Shaw Sparrow (1862–1940) was a British writer on art and architecture with a special interest in British sporting artists.
Sparrow was born in 1862, younger son of James Sparrow JP FGS (1824–1902) and his wife Caroline (1828–1904), of Gwersyllt Hill, near Wrexham, Wales. In 1855, James Sparrow had become proprietor of Ffrwd Works, a large colliery, ironworks and brickworks between Brymbo and Cefn-y-bedd which he expanded into one of the most prominent businesses in North Wales. During his boyhood Sparrow got to know many of his father's colliers, furnacemen, blacksmiths, carpenters and farm workers, and gained a respect and admiration for the men he described as "so big, strong, simple-hearted, and kind". He made a study of the cruel conditions endured by coal miners and the fact that nationally over a thousand colliers were killed every year in accidents, and this engendered in him a desire to see fairness for working men.
Sparrow started school at Chester College, which, he recounts, was "devoted to science", and opened his eyes to botany, chemistry and physiology. His early drawing lessons there were based on observation from nature. After Chester College he went to Newton Abbott College in South Devon, where Arthur Quiller-Couch was one of his contemporaries. He distinguished himself with a first prize in political economy and for his drawing skills. He also mentions his admiration for the watercolour painting skills of the headmaster's wife, whom he got to know during an illness at the college.
During the long school holidays at home in his early teens (1875–1879), he spent some time with professional artist William Joseph J. C. Bond, who was staying with the family. Bond painted in oils, and Sparrow learnt techniques from him, and insight into pigments and varnishes and problems with their stability. It was after discussing with Bond and with Walter's uncle, the architect George T. Robinson, that his father decided to approve Walter attending the Slade School of Fine Art in London, where he studied under artist Alphonse Legros for fifteen months.
In 1880, his father decided to send him to Brussels to study at the Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts under Jean-François Portaels, Joseph Stallaert and Joseph van Severdonck. Before starting his studies there, he went with his parents on an artistic and historical tour of Belgium, after which he remained in Brussels for seven years, but returned home for holidays. He established a small studio in Brussels at the suggestion of van Severdonck, and was supported by money from home, but earned extra income by giving drawing classes and English lessons, as well as selling a few paintings and writing four little articles which were accepted for publication in The Globe newspaper by the then editor, Ponsonby Ogle.
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