Frederick Morgan (painter)

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Frederick Morgan (1847/1856 London - 1927), was an English painter of portraits, animals, domestic and country scenes. He was commonly known as Fred Morgan and sometimes as Jury Morgan after one of his paintings "The Gentlemen of the Jury". ^[1] He is known mostly for his romantic and sentimental paintings of children, in the same style as his contemporary Arthur John Elsley. His paintings achieved great popularity in his lifetime and were widely published. He exhibited with the Royal Academy and was a member of the Royal Institute of Oil Painters.

His lesser-known father, John Morgan (1823-1886) RBA, trained in Paris under Thomas Couture (1815-1879), and produced historical and biblical paintings. Frederick Morgan lived in Aylesbury, Leighton Buzzard, Ventnor on the Isle of Wight, and finally in London. At the age of fourteen he was taken out of school by his father who then tutored him in art. While studying with his father, his first picture, "The Rehearsal", was exhibited at the Royal Academy when he was sixteen, and after a hiatus of several years his paintings were shown there regularly. For a while he worked as a portraitist for an Aylesbury photographer, but eventually turned to subject pictures. In 1872 he married another painter, Alice Mary Havers (1850-1890) and produced three children, their eldest son, known as Val Havers, also developing into a painter. Frederick Morgan married twice more, producing two children from the second marriage. For many years, starting in 1874, Thomas Agnew & Sons purchased all the work he produced. Over this period he painted some of his most popular works such as "The Doll’s Tea Party" (1874), "Emigrants' Departure" (1875) and "School Belles" (1877). Most of his painting was done in the village of Shere close to Guildford, a well-known retreat for artists. He also painted in Normandy, including "Midday Rest" (1879) and "An Apple Gathering" (1880).

Although an excellent portraitist, Morgan had problems in depicting pets and barnyard animals - he enlisted the aid of either Arthur John Elsley or Allen Sealey (1850-1927) when such problems needed resolving.

His paintings are at many art galleries and museums including the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool and the Russell-Cotes Museum in Bournemouth. "His Turn Next", was used to advertise Pears' Soap and is in the Lady Lever Art Gallery, Port Sunlight. ^[2]