Life at the Seaside, Ramsgate 1854

Location

Country: China
City: Beijing
Place: British Embassy

William Powell Frith was born near Ripon in Yorkshire. He studied at the Royal Academy Schools and was elected an Academician in 1852. During the 1840s he was a member of the artists' group 'The Clique'. Although his early subjects were historical or literary, Frith claimed to have been ‘strongly drawn’ to contemporary genre. He first painted the subject following a visit to Ramsgate of 1851, which resulted in ‘Ramsgate Sands’ (exhibited 1854). He went on to paint ‘Derby Day’ (1858), ‘The Railway Station’ (1862) and ‘Private View Day at the Royal Academy’ (1883). His 19 children - twelve with his wife and seven with his mistress - caused considerable financial difficulties. Frith died of pneumonia aged 90, at his home in St John's Wood.
Charles William Sharpe was born in Birmingham; the son of engraver William Sharpe. His sisters, Eliza and Louisa, were both watercolourists. Sharpe worked as a line, stipple and mixed method engraver based in Islington, London, engraving works by well-known contemporary artists. His works included portraits and sporting, historical, genre and sentimental subjects. By 1871 he had moved to Burnham in Berkshire, where he lived with his wife, Ellen, and some of their eight children. Sharpe’s profession was given as ‘historical line engraver’ in most census records. However, by 1891 he was still based in Burnham but presumably retired, as he is described as ‘living on own means’.

Places

England, Kent

Subjects

ladder, bathing machine, stringed instrument, musician, newspaper, bathing, sunbathing, rest/sleep, reading (as Subject), topography, genre, seascape/coastal scene, townscape/cityscape, Victorian Genre, telescope, hare, shore, sea, beach, cliff, wave, boy, baby, man, woman, girl, crowd, 19th century costume, parasol, umbrella, house, hut, tent/marquee, chair

Materials & Techniques

engraving, coloured engraving

Artist

William Powell Frith (1819 - 1909)
Charles William Sharpe (1818 - 1899)

Title

Life at the Seaside, Ramsgate 1854

Date

1854

Medium

Coloured engraving

Acquisition

Purchased from Parker Gallery, March 1971

GAC number

9154