Frederick Sandys
Frederick Sandys
Main page
1805912

Frederick Sandys

logo
Community Hub0 subscribers
What are your thoughts?
Be the first to start a discussion here.
Be the first to start a discussion here.
Frederick Sandys

Anthony Frederick Augustus Sandys (born Antonio Frederic Augustus Sands), 1 May 1829 – 25 June 1904, usually known as Frederick Sandys, was a British painter, illustrator, and draughtsman, associated with the Pre-Raphaelites. He was also associated with the Norwich School of painters.

Frederick Sandys was born on 1 May 1829 in Norwich, and received his earliest lessons in art from his father, Anthony Sands, who was himself a painter. His early studies show that he had a natural gift for careful and beautiful drawing. He was educated at Norwich School and later attended the Norwich School of Design in 1846. In the same and next year his talent was recognized by the Royal Society of Arts.

Sandys married Georgiana Creed, but this marriage only lasted three years, although they never divorced. He had a long affair with the Romany woman Keomi Gray, who sat as a model both for him and Dante Gabriel Rossetti (The Beloved, 1865-66), and perhaps also for Simeon Solomon. He and Gray had two daughters and two sons.

In 1862 Sandys met actress Mary Emma Jones, known as Miss Clive, when she modeled for The Magdalen, now owned by the Norwich Castle Museum. A relationship developed between the two; he became devoted to her, taking her as his common-law wife for the rest of his life. She gave birth to a large number of children, 10 of whom were raised under the name of Neville and survived after Sandys's death. She appears in paintings such as Sandys's Love's Shadow and his 1867 work Proud Maisie, which was inspired by Mary--so much so that he made at least 11 versions by 1904.

Sandys influenced his younger sister, Emma Sandys (1841–1877), whose works were mainly portraits of children and of young women, often in period or medieval clothing.

He died in Kensington in west London on 25 June 1904.

Sandys displayed great skills as a draughtsman, achieving recognition with his print The Nightmare (1857), parodying John Everett Millais's Sir Isumbras at the Ford. The caricaturist turned the horse of Sir Isumbras into a laughing donkey labelled "J. R., Oxon.", understood as a reference to John Ruskin. Upon the donkey was seated Millais himself, in the character of the knight, with Rossetti and Holman Hunt replacing the two children, one before and one behind. The caricature, produced using the new autographic lithographic process, caused a lot of talk about who the artist might be and ultimately introduced Sandys to the London art community.

Rossetti and Sandys became close friends, and from May 1866 to July 1867, Sandys lived with Rossetti at 16, Cheyne Walk, Chelsea. Sandys's works were profoundly influenced by those of Rossetti. He focused mainly on mythological subjects and portraits.

See all
User Avatar
No comments yet.