Hubert von Herkomer
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Sir Hubert von Herkomer (1849 - 1914), British painter, was born at Waal, in Bavaria, and eight years later was brought to England by his father, a wood-carver of great ability.
He lived for some time at Southampton and in the school of art there began his art training; but in 1866 he entered upon a more serious course of study at the South Kensington Schools, and in 1869 exhibited for the first time at the Royal Academy. In 1869 he also began working as an artist for a newly-founded newspaper called The Graphic. By his picture, The Last Muster, at the Academy in 1875, he definitely established his position as an artist of high distinction. He was elected an associate of the Academy in 1879, and academician in 1890; an associate of the Royal Society of Painters in Water Colours in 1893, and a full member in 1894; and in 1885 he was appointed Slade professor at Oxford.
He exhibited a very large number of memorable portraits, figure subjects and landscapes, in oil and watercolour; he achieved marked success as a worker in enamel, as an etcher, mezzotint engraver and illustrative draughtsman; and he exercised wide influence upon art education by means of the Herkomer School (Incorporated), at Bushey, which he founded in 1883 and directed without payment until 1904, when he retired. It was then voluntarily wound up, and is now defunct. Herkomer's massive house, Lululaund, served as his studio, school and even theatre, where he put on productions of his own plays and musical compositions.
Two of his pictures, Found (1885) and The Chapel of the Charterhouse (1889), are in the Tate Gallery. In the year 1907 he received the honorary degree of DCL at Oxford, and a knighthood was conferred upon him by the king in addition to the commandership of the Royal Victorian Order with which he was already decorated.
Herkomer was also a pioneering film maker. He established a studio in Lululaund and directed a number of historical costume dramas, designed to be shown accompanied by his own music.
[edit] References
This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.
- Hubert von Herkomer, R.A., a Study and a Biography, by AL Baldry (London, 1901)
- Professor Hubert Herkomer, Royal Academician, His Life and Work, by WL Courtney (London, 1892).
