To Honor Old Masters - John Melhuish Strudwick

Hello dear Steemit friends ! Today I would like to present you John Melhuish Strudwick, Pre-Raphaelite painter born in 1849. Strudwick studied at S.Kensington and at the Royal Academy Schools where he met with very little success. He then worked as a studio assistant for Spencer Stanhope and Burne-Jones. This gave his work the direction which it needed, and he evolved a very personal Pre-Raphaelite style.

'' When Apples Were Golden and Songs Were Sweet '', oil on canvas , Manchester Art Gallery , Image Source

'' An Angel from A Golden Thread '', oil on canvas , Image Source

Strudwick's subjects were derived mainly from Burne-Jones – mythological and allegorical figures – with poetic titles “The Ramparts of God's House”, “The gentle music of a Bygone Day”, etc. but his technique was quite different. He painted in a flat linear style, with great attention to detail, especially in the draperies and accessories, using rich and glowing colours. The effect is sometimes rather lifeless and static, but always highly decorative.

'' The Ramparts of God's House '', Detail , oil on canvas , Image Source

George Bernard Shaw wrote an article on Strudwick for the Art Journal of 1891 in which he wrote : “transcendent expressiveness is the moving quality in all Strudwick's works and persons who are sensitive to it will take almost as a matter of course the charm of the architecture, the bits of landscape, the elaborately beautiful foliage, the ornamental accessories of all sorts, which would distinguish them even in a gallery of early Italian paintings”.

'' Evensong, St. Cecilia '', oil on canvas , Image Source

'' In the Golden Days '', oil on canvas , Image Source

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