Later Victorian Portraits Catalogue
William Eden Nesfield (1835-1888), Architect
- Gallery portraits
- All known portraits
- Biography and References
Architect; born 2 April 1835, in Bath, son of William Andrews Nesfield, watercolour painter and landscape architect. Early training with his uncle, the architect Anthony Salvin 1853–6; several trips to the continent 1857–61; set up architectural office 1859; elected Associate Royal Institute of British Architects 1861 (renounced membership 1867); published acclaimed Specimens of Medieval Architecture chiefly selected from examples of the 12th and 13th centuries in France and Italy 1862; close partnership with Richard Norman Shaw 1866–9; key promoter of Old English and Queen Anne architectural styles, he worked mainly in England and Wales; retired in his mid-forties and died at home in Brighton on 25 March 1888.
Nesfield had a great dislike to publicity, and avoided what he called advertising, or calling attention to himself in any way, and would never permit illustrations of his works in the professional journals. He had besides an imperfect sympathy with conventional society, but was a most agreeable companion, and numbered some of the most eminent men in literature and art among his friends. [1]
Carol Blackett-Ord
Nesfield had a great dislike to publicity, and avoided what he called advertising, or calling attention to himself in any way, and would never permit illustrations of his works in the professional journals. He had besides an imperfect sympathy with conventional society, but was a most agreeable companion, and numbered some of the most eminent men in literature and art among his friends. [1]
Carol Blackett-Ord
Referencesback to top
Asleson 2000Asleson, R., Albert Moore, London, 2000.
Hebb 1903
Hebb, J., ‘W. Eden Nesfield’, Journal of the RIBA, vol.10, 23 May 1903, pp.396–400.
James-Fowler 2004
James-Fowler, N., ‘Nesfield, William Eden (1835–88), ODNB, Oxford, 2004; online ed., May 2008.
Lang 1969
Lang, C.Y., The Swinburne Letters, New Haven and London, 1969.
Nesfield 1988
Nesfield, W.E., A Deuce of an Uproar: William Eden Nesfield’s Letters to the Rector of Radwinter in Essex, Radwinter, 1988.
Reynolds 1995
Reynolds, S., William Blake Richmond: An Artist's Life, Norwich, 1995.
Rogers 1993
Rogers, M., Master Drawings from the National Portrait Gallery, touring exh. cat., NPG, London, 1993.
Seccombe 1894
Seccombe, T., ‘Nesfield, William Andrews (1793–1881), DNB, London, 1894.
Tumarkin Goodman 2001
Tumarkin Goodman, S., ed., The Emergence of Jewish Artists in Nineteenth Century Europe, exh. cat., Jewish Museum, New York, 2001.
Who Was Who 1972
Who Was Who 1961–1970: A Companion to Who’s Who Containing the Biographies of Those Who Died During the Decade 1961–1970, 1st ed., London, 1972.