William
Powell Frith,
the son
of domestic servants, was born in Alfield in 1819. After brief training
in art at Saint Margaret's School, Dover, Frith attended the Henry
Sass Academy in London. While a student
Frith earned money by painting portraits.
In 1845 he was appointed an associate of the Royal
Academy
and was made a full member in 1853. Frith
exhibited the first of this three great modern-life subjects, Life
at the Seaside: Ramsgate Sands
in 1854. This was followed by Derby
Day
(1858) and The
Railway Station
(1862). These paintings were very popular and Frith sold a large number
of engravings of these works.
In 1875 Frith's painting Before
Dinner
in Boswell's Lodgings
(1868) was sold for £4,567. At the time, it was the highest salesroom
price paid for the work of a living artist. Frith continued to paint
crowd scenes but in his later years his work was considered
old-fashioned. William
Powell Frith died in 1909.
William Powell Frith, The Railway Station (1862)
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