Edward Armitage (1817–1896)
Herod's Birthday Feast, c. 1868
Oil on canvas
H 155 x W 277 cm
Guildhall Art Gallery
Whether or not the dancer is Salome performing the dance of seven veils in order to secure the beheading of John the Baptist, any image of dancing in the presence of Herod brings to mind the extraordinarily popular fin-de-siecle subject of Salome, the epitome the sexual, destroying woman for the Decadents of the '90s and those influenced by them. This well-covered dancer strikes one as the opposite of the nude woman who appears in Pierre Bonnaud’s Salome or in Oscar Wilde’s play and Beardsley's illustrations for it. More on this painting
Edward Armitage RA (20 May 1817 – 24 May 1896) was an English Victorian-era painter whose work focused on historical, classical and biblical subjects.
Armitage's art training was undertaken in Paris, where he enrolled at the École des Beaux-Arts in October 1837. He studied under the history painter, Paul Delaroche, who at that time was at the height of his fame. Armitage was one of four students selected to assist Delaroche with the fresco Hémicycle in the amphitheatre of the Palais des Beaux-Arts, when he reputedly modelled for the head of Masaccio. Whilst still in Paris, he exhibited Prometheus Bound in 1842, which a contemporary critic described as 'well drawn but brutally energetic'.
Edward Armitage RA (1817 - 1896)
Caesar's first invasion of Britain
Lithograph38.8 x 57.2 cm
Science Museum Group
Caesar's first invasion of Britain: Caesar's boat is pulled to the shore while his soldiers fight the resisting indigenous warriors.
Edward Armitage RA (1817 - 1896)
Cartoon The Spirit of Religion
Engraving
Cartoons in Westminster Hall
Edward Armitage RA (1817 - 1896)
Personification of the Thames and of English rivers, from Windsor Forest
Oil on canvas
Poets Hall, Parliament, London, UK
Alexander Pope (1688-1744) wrote the poem Windsor Forest , on which this painting is based, in the form of a classical pastoral, modelled on Virgil and Ovid. It enjoyed great popularity with supporters of the Tory party, because he took the opportunity to celebrate the Treaty of Utrecht (1713), which ended the War of the Spanish Succession. More on this painting
Edward Armitage RA (1817 - 1896)
The Death of Marmion, c. 1842
Oil on canvas
41 x 32 cm
I have no further description, at this time
Marmion: A Tale of Flodden Field is a historical romance in verse of 16th-century Britain by Sir Walter Scott, published in 1808.
The poem tells how Lord Marmion, a favourite of Henry VIII of England, lusts for Clara de Clare, a rich woman. He and his mistress, Constance De Beverley, forge a letter implicating Clare's fiancé, Sir Ralph De Wilton, in treason. Constance, a dishonest nun, hopes that her aid will restore her to favour with Marmion. When De Wilton loses the duel he claims in order to defend his honour against Marmion, he is obliged to go into exile. Clare retires to a convent rather than risk Marmion's attentions.
Constance's hopes of a reconciliation with Marmion are dashed when he abandons her; she ends up being walled up alive in the Lindisfarne convent for breaking her vows. She takes her revenge by giving the Abbess, who is one of her three judges, documents that prove De Wilton's innocence. De Wilton, having returned disguised as a pilgrim, follows Marmion to Edinburgh where he meets the Abbess, who gives him the exonerating documents. When Marmion's host, the Earl of Angus is shown the documents, he arms De Wilton and accepts him as a knight again. De Wilton's plans for revenge are overturned by the Battle of Flodden. Marmion dies on the battlefield, while De Wilton displays heroism, regains his honour, retrieves his lands, and marries Clare. More on The Death of Marmion
In 1843 Armitage returned to London, where he entered competitions for the decoration of the new Palace of Westminster, the old Houses of Parliament having been destroyed by fire in 1834. To organise and oversee this project, a Royal Commission had been appointed in 1841, the President of which was Queen Victoria's new Consort, Prince Albert. Competitions were held for appropriate designs ('cartoons'), with a number of leading artists commissioned to take part. The first competition entries were unveiled in Westminster Hall in the summer of 1843 and attracted considerable attention from the public. Armitage's cartoon, The Landing of Julius Caesar in Britain (See above), secured one of the three first prizes of £300. He won a further prize in 1845 in a subsequent Westminster competition for his cartoon The Spirit of Religion (See above). Although neither of these cartoons was executed in fresco, Armitage did execute two frescoes in the Poets' Gallery off the Upper Waiting Hall: The Thames and its Tributaries (also referred to as The Personification of the Thames) (1852) (See above), from the poetry of Alexander Pope; and The Death of Marmion (1854) (See above), from Sir Walter Scott's poem. Unfortunately frescoes were ill-suited to the atmosphere of 19th-century London, and many started to disintegrate almost as soon as they were completed.
Edward Armitage RA (1817 - 1896)
The Battle of Meeanee, 17 February 1843, c. 1847
Oil on canvas
396.2 x 579.1 cm
A life size view along the length of the British line during the Battle of Meanee. Sir Charles Napier's victory over the Amirs with a force little more than a tenth the size of his adversaries' completed the annexation of Sind; Hyderabad fell to Napier's forces two days later.
In the foreground men of a flank company of the 22nd Cheshire Regiment are shown charging the mass of Baluchi warriors in the dried-up bed of the River Fullaillee. The mounted figures on the river bank are, according to tradition, Lt.-Col. William Pattle, commanding the 9th Bengal Light Infantry; Lt.-Col. J. L. Pennefather, commanding the 22nd; Major P. McPherson, Military Secretary to Sir Charles Napier; Sir Charles Napier; Ali Akhbar, an interpreter. In the distance is the village of Kattree, on which the Baluchis' right rested. More on this painting
Armitage won one of the first-class premiums in 1847 for his oil painting The Battle of Meanee (See above), which was subsequently purchased by Queen Victoria. In this battle, General Sir Charles Napier brought the provinces of Sindh under the dominion of Great Britain, an account of which was written by his brother, Sir William Napier. Armitage consulted both brothers for detailed information on the battle and he used sketches of the locality lent by Sir Charles. However, the painting was the subject of much controversy, with doubts expressed that the war had been justified. The 1847 The Art Union review concluded with the following: "Notwithstanding the great ability displayed by Mr. Armitage in this production, which of its class, has never been excelled in England, we cannot but regret that he did not select a theme more purely historical - one more honourable to our nation than the slaughter of thousands - of whom, after all, we were the oppressors". Thackeray, writing in Punch under the pseudonym of Professor Byles, also disapproved of the subject-matter: "With respect to the third prize - a Battle of Meeanee - in this extraordinary piece they are stabbing, kicking, cutting, slashing, and poking each other about all over the picture. A horrid sight! I like to see the British lion mild and good-humoured ... not fierce, as Mr. Armitage has shown him."
Edward Armitage RA (1817 - 1896)
The Festival of Esther, c. 1865
Oil on canvas
1200 mm x 1830 mm
Royal Academy of Arts
Esther, wife of the Persian King Ahasuerus, concealed the fact that she was Jewish from her husband. The king's chief minister, Haman hated Esther's adoptive father, Mordecai. In order to kill him he convinced Ahasuerus to issue a decree of execution against the Jews. On discovering this Esther held a banquet where she revealed that she was Jewish and pleaded for her people.
The King briefly left the banquet and returned to find Haman kneeling before the queen. Believing that he was attempting to seduce Esther, Ahasuerus had Haman executed. The Jews established a new annual festival on the 14th day of the month of Adar (February/March) known as 'Purim' or 'The Festival of Esther'.
In his painting Edward Armitage, R.A. shows the angry King ordering Haman to his death. Haman begs Esther for mercy, as guards cover his head and drag him from the royal table. Mordecai stands behind the table looking down upon the treacherous Haman. The queen's pale skin and white costume denote her regal status and her innocence. More on this painting
Edward Armitage (1817–1896)
The Death of Nelson, c. 1848
Oil on canvas
H 163 x W 230 cm
Britannia Royal Naval College
As one might expect in British public collections, Horatio Nelson does particularly well, with many contradictory depictions of the Admiral’s heroic death on shipboard at Trafalgar. Edward Armitage’s 1848 The Death of Nelson – is a sort of Regency secular pieta, with Nelson stripped down to his underclothes
In 1848 Armitage exhibited for the first time at the Royal Academy when he showed two paintings, Henry VIII and Catherine Parr, and Trafalgar (also known as The Death of Nelson) (See above). He continued to send contributions most years until his death. These included Retribution (1858) (See below), Esther's Banquet (1865) (also known as Festival of Esther) (See above), The Remorse of Judas (1866) (See below), Herod's Birthday Feast (1868) (See top), A Deputation to Faraday (1871), Julian the Apostate (1875) (See below), Pygmalion's Galatea (1878) (See below), Meeting of St. Francis and St. Dominic (1882), Faith (1884) (See above), The Siren (1888) (See below), and a portrait of his brother The late T.R. Armitage, M.D., the Friend of the Blind (1893).
Edward Armitage (1817–1896)
Retribution, c. 1858
Oil on canvas
H 269.2 x W 289.5 cm
Leeds Art Gallery, Leeds Museums and Galleries
Retribution, in which Armitage allegorized the suppression and punishment of the Indian 'Mutiny' by Great Britain in 1857. This was painted after details of the massacre of British soldiers, women and children had been circulated by the press. The Illustrated London News of 1859 described Retribution thus: "Britannia, represented of colossal proportions, has seized the assassin tiger by the throat, and is about to plunge her sword into its heart ... The melancholy results of the mutiny, which have spread mourning through so many homes, are typified in the figures of prostrate victims, with debris of books, etc., scattered around."
Edward Armitage (1817–1896)
Julian the Apostate presiding at a conference of sectarians, c. 1875
Oil on canvas
H 174.6 x W 271.8 cm
Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool
Julian (331 – 26 June 363) was Roman emperor from 361 to 363, as well as a notable philosopher and author in Greek. His rejection of Christianity, and his promotion of Neoplatonic Hellenism in its place, caused him to be remembered as Julian the Apostate by the Christian Church. More on Julian
Edward Armitage (1817–1896)
Pygmalion's Galatea, c. 1872
Oil on canvas
120 x 67cm (47 1/4 x 26 3/8in)
Pygmalion is a legendary figure of Cyprus in Greek mythology who was a king and a sculptor. He is most familiar from Ovid's narrative poem Metamorphoses, in which Pygmalion was a sculptor who fell in love with a statue he had carved. More on this painting
Armitage was elected an associate of the Royal Academy in 1867 and a full member in 1872, and in 1875 he was appointed Professor and Lecturer on painting. His lectures to the Royal Academy were published as Lectures on Painting (London and New York, 1883).
On 3 February 1853 Armitage married Catherine Laurie Barber, also an artist. They were among the first artists to settle in the St John's Wood area of London, and their friends included other artists in the neighbourhood.
Edward Armitage (1817–1896)
The Siren, c. 1888
Oil on canvas
H 114.3 x W 162.5 cm
Leeds Art Gallery, Leeds Museums and Galleries
The art dealer Ernest Gambart sent Armitage to the Crimea in 1855 to make on-the-spot sketches for battle pictures including The Stand of the Guards at Inkerman and The Heavy Cavalry Charge at Balaclava, which were shown at Gambart's French gallery in London in the spring of 1856, along with a drawing The Bottom of the Ravine at Inkerman which was also exhibited at the Royal Academy. This was from a sketch made on the spot in March 1855, four months after the battle. It shows the corpses of soldiers revealed by the melting snow, still lying where they fell the previous November but now surrounded by spring flowers. The Athenaeum of 24 May 1856 considered Armitage's drawing 'speaks to us in a more dreadful whisper of the horrors of war than all the peace speeches ever made'.
Edward Armitage (1817–1896)
Souvenir of Scutari, c. 1857
Oil on canvas
H 122 x W 183 cm
Laing Art Gallery
Armitage returned home from the Crimea in September 1855, having taken an extended tour that included stops at Scutari and Bursa, where he made a number of sketches. From one of these, he painted Souvenir of Scutari (See above) which he exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1857 (now in Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle) and which shows a group of veiled Turkish women at leisure in public gardens on the Asian side of the Bosporus.
Edward Armitage
Dawn of the first Easter Sunday, c. 1872
Oil on canvas
1275 x 1935 mm
Auckland Art Gallery
The Resurrection. Early on Sunday morning, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and found that the stone had been rolled away from the entrance. She ran and found Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved. She said, “They have taken the Lord’s body out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!”
Edward Armitage
The Remorse of Judas, c. 1866
Oil paint on canvas
1276 × 2013 mm
Tate
Armitage was one of the main exponents of public art in Britain, having trained in Paris under the historical painter Paul Delaroche. This ambitious religious painting was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1866 and immediately afterwards was presented by the artist to the National Gallery. It depicts the passage in St Matthew when the repentant Judas offers back the thirty pieces of silver to the high priests who are shown turning their backs on him with disdain. A vulture flies overhead as a symbol of blood and ill-omen, adding to the portentous nature of the scene. More on this painting
Edward Armitage (1817–1896)
The Christian Martyr, c. 1863
Oil on canvas
H 114.3 x W 152.4 cm
Glasgow Museums Resource Centre
The vast majority of Christian martyrdoms have no independent historical confirmation. From a number of different clues it is clear that stories of martyrdom were fabricated - some in the first millennium, the vast majority in the High Middle Ages. These fabricated stories were custom made for their audience, and what went down best were stories of steadfast martyrs, entirely innocent and virginal, dreadfully abused by monstrous and vindictive pagans. These martyrs suffered a vast range of tortures. They survived long after any normal person would have died, suffering unspeakable agonies. Often God miraculously turned the tortures against the evil perpetrator, who usually died in front of his victim. A massively disproportionate number of these victims were nubile young women whose suffering included being stripped and humiliated. With the benefit of modern knowledge it is easy to identify sadomasochistic tendencies in these stories and associated art. More on Christian martyrdoms
Edward Armitage (1817–1896)
The Woman Taken in Adultery, after 1860
Oil on canvas
H 165.1 x W 275.6 cm
Dundee Art Galleries and Museums Collection
Jesus and the woman taken in adultery – is a famous passage found in the Gospel of John, that has been the subject of much scholarly discussion.
Jesus has sat down in the temple to teach some of the people. A group of scribes and Pharisees confront Jesus, interrupting his teaching session. They bring in a woman, accusing her of committing adultery, claiming she was caught in the very act. They ask Jesus whether the punishment for someone like her should be stoning, as proscribed by Mosaic Law. Jesus first ignores the interruption, and writes on the ground as though he does not hear them. But when the woman's accusers continue their challenge, he states that the one who is without sin is the one who should cast the first stone. The accusers and congregants depart, leaving Jesus alone with the woman. Jesus asks the woman if anyone has condemned her. She answers that no one has condemned her. Jesus says that he, too, does not condemn her, and tells her to go and sin no more. More on Jesus and the woman taken in adultery
A number of Armitage's sketches from the Crimea were reproduced in the Illustrated London News and The Graphic, including Lord Raglan and Sir Edmund Lyons, General Bosquet, Captor of Malakoff Tower, General Trochu and Before Sebastopol, Zouaves Making Gabions.
Other decorative work includes part of the terracotta frieze, The Triumph of Art and Letters, (See below) at the Royal Albert Hall, where Armitage contributed two of the sixteen sections (Princes, Art Patrons and Artists and A Group of Philosophers, Sages and Students) (See below). He also contributed to what was referred to as the Kensington Valhalla at South Kensington Museum (now the Victoria and Albert Museum), when he was responsible for depicting Benozzo Gozzoli.
Edward Armitage (1817–1896)
The Triumph of Arts and Letters – Philosophers, Sages and Students, c.1869–1870
(frieze for Royal Albert Hall)
Pen, ink & watercolour on paper
H 32 x W 259 cm
Royal Albert Hall
Edward Armitage (1817–1896)
Detail; The Triumph of Arts and Letters – Philosophers, Sages and Students, c.1869–1870
(frieze for Royal Albert Hall)
Pen, ink & watercolour on paper
H 32 x W 259 cm
Royal Albert Hall
The work was to be one of Edward Armitage's two contributions to the enormous terracotta mosaic frieze running around the whole façade, below the dome of the building. The part shown here shows less than half of the twenty-three figures in the section. This small part not only gives an idea of the heroic scale of the enterprise but is of special interest because it shows students being taught by Sir Richard Owen (on the far right), who gestures towards a fossil specimen. The fact that one of these students is a young woman is also significant, as women students were only now entering academe (see Armitage 148). Two other young women can be seen here, one by the chemistry table and one curtseying to receive an award. More on this painting
After retiring from the Royal Academy in May 1894, Armitage spent some time in Royal Tunbridge Wells for the benefit of his health. He lodged at Mount Edgcumbe House, where he died on 24 May 1896 of apoplexy and exhaustion following pneumonia. He is buried in Hove Cemetery. More on Edward Armitage
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