Portrait of George John Pinwell. Illustration from The Graphic, 2 October 1875.
Born in central London on 26 December 1842, and christened in St Mark's, Surbiton, Pinwell came from a working-class background: his father was a builder or carpenter, and his own first real job was making embroidery designs. However, he quickly gravitated from that towards graphic art. By the mid-1860s he was working for a whole range of periodicals — notably Good Words and Once a Week — and was also producing distinguished work for children, and for a series of illustrated gift books. He built a highly effective relationship with the Dalziels, who brought out his most popular work, Dalziels' Illustrated Goldsmith, in 1865. Pinwell was regarded by contemporaries as one of the outstanding illustrators of his time; he was also a talented watercolourist, and from time to time painted in oils as well. While still illustrative in nature, his work in these media had a distinct charm of their own and constituted an important contribution to the Idyllic School of Painting. Sadly, however, his potential was never fully realized. As Simon Houfe puts it, "Pinwell did not live long enough to develop his mature style" (127). He suffered from a respiratory illness, generally identified as consumption, and died much too young, at the age of thirty-two. [Based on an unattributed introduction to Pinwell formerly on this page. — JB]
Biographical Material
Discussions
- Introduction
- George Pinwell and wood-engraving: a previously unpublished letter
- Social Commentaries of the 1860s: from Dickens to the Idyllic School of Illustration
- Illustrations to Dickens's The Uncommercial Traveller by George Pinwell and "W.M."
Works
Illustrations
- The Shadow
- By the Dove-cot
- The Island Bee
- At the Threshold
- Bridget Dally's Change
- The Gang Children
- Poverty’s Dwelling
- Other People's Windows
- A Tradition of Black Rock
- Leaving the Morgue
- The City Personage
- This is a sweet spot, ain't it? A lovely spot!
- Time and His Wife
Work in Other Media
Bibliography
Houfe, Simon. The Dictionary of Nineteenth Century British Book Illustrators. Woodbridge: Atnique Collectors' Club, 1978; revised ed., 1996.
Goldman, Paul. Victorian Illustration: The Pre-Raphaelites, the Idyllic School and the High Victorians. Aldershot: Scolar, 1996.
Reid, Forrest. Illustrators of the Eighteen Sixties. 1928; reprint, New York: Dover, 1975.
Trimpe, Pamela White. "Pinwell, George John (1842–1875), painter and illustrator." Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Online ed. Web. 18 September 2024.
Last modified 18 September 2024 (many thanks to Donato Esposito for correcting information in the introductory passage)