Frederick Walker, the son Marylebone jeweller William Walker, was born in London, on 26 May 1840, and died in St. Fillans, Perthshire, on 4 June 1875. His obituary in The Times described him as “a young painter of rare genius, cut off prematurely in the springtide of his powers. At little more than thirty Walker had already made his power felt in three fields of art — as a designer on wood and as a painter in water-colours and in oil — in a way possible only to genius. His later achievements as a painter have gone far to override the recollection of his earlier work as a designer on wood.” The Times claimed that despite his youth, he “had the same wide and well-marked influence on his contemporaries and successors as he had already had on the younger generation of our water-colour painters” (qtd in Marks 314) and had begun to have on those who painted in oils. — Philip V. Allingham
Biographical Material
- Frederick Walker, R. W. S. and A. R. A. (1840-1875): Painter and Illustrator
- Hubert von Herkomer on the Influence (and Shortcomings) of Frederick Walker
- Frederick Walker and the St John's Wood Clique (1): Walker's sketch, A Vision of The Clique
- Frederick Walker and the St John's Wood Clique (2): Walker's caricature, D. G. Rossetti Roasting the St. John Wood's Clique
- "The St John's Wood Clique," by Henry Stacy Marks (1894)
Works
Bibliography
Black, Clementina. Frederick Walker. New York: Dutton; London: Duckworth, 1902.
Hammerton, J. A. The Dickens Picture-Book. London: Educational Book [1910].
Marks, John George. Life and Letters of Frederick Walker, A. R. A. London and New York: Macmillan, 1896.
Milton, Steve. "Fred Walker, ARA." Online version available from Southwilts.com.. Web. 8 July 2018.
Created 29 July 2018