George
Walker was born at Killingbeck Hall, Seacroft, on 8th May 1781. His
father, William Walker, was a successful businessman in Leeds.
After being educated in York, Walker became
an artist. At first he concentrated on local, rural landscapes.
Walker developed a reputation as a good artist and in 1814 and a local
bookseller commissioned a series of paintings for the book Costume
of Yorkshire. The book contained forty pictures of local
people including: The Horse Dealer, Cloth Makers, The Collier, The
Cloth Dresser, Stone Breakers, The Milk Boy, Whalebone Scrapers, Wensley
Dale Knitters, Leech Finders, Sheffield Cutler and Factory Children.
The book also included the first ever painting of a locomotive. The
picture was of Salamanca at Middleton Colliery that had been
produced by John Blenkinsop and Matthew
Murray.
In 1824 George Walker travelled to Italy where he spent time in Naples,
Rome and Florence. He also visited Switzerland and France. George
Walker spent the rest of his life at Killingbeck Lodge, Seacroft.
He died there in 1856.
George Walker, Wensley
Dale Knitters (1814)
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