Later Victorian Portraits Catalogue
Sir William Quiller Orchardson (1832-1910), Portrait and subject painter
- Gallery portraits
- All known portraits
- Biography and References
Painter; born 27 March 1832, in Edinburgh. Trained there under Robert Scott Lauder; exh. Royal Scottish Academy from 1848, settled London 1862 and exh. RA from 1863; built successful career with literary subjects, historical genre and modern ‘problem pictures’, together with portraits (see those of Sir Francis Younghusband, NPG 3184, and Queen Victoria and her descendants, NPG 4536), though his most-admired work was Napoleon On Board the Bellerophon (1880; Tate); elected ARA 1868, RA 1877; awarded DCL Oxford 1890; knighted 1907; died 13 April 1910, in London.
A ‘finished and prosperous m[a]n of the world’, [1] Orchardson was described as ‘affable and unassuming’, [2] also very active and ‘of distinguished appearance, if of slight physique’. [3] In personality he was ‘very much like his own work, delicate, artistic and technically much on the surface’. [4]
Dr Jan Marsh
A ‘finished and prosperous m[a]n of the world’, [1] Orchardson was described as ‘affable and unassuming’, [2] also very active and ‘of distinguished appearance, if of slight physique’. [3] In personality he was ‘very much like his own work, delicate, artistic and technically much on the surface’. [4]
Dr Jan Marsh
Footnotesback to top
[1] T.H. Escott, quoted Gillett 1990, p.34.
[2] Price 1914, p.199.
[3] Caw 1912b.
[4] Furniss 1923, p.166.
Referencesback to top
Armstrong 1895bArmstrong, W., 'The Art of W.Q. Orchardson', The Portfolio, no.14, London, 1895; re-issued as The Art of William Quiller Orchardson, London, 1905.
Caw 1912b
Caw, J.L., ‘Orchardson, Sir William Quiller (1832–1910)’, DNB, London, 1912.
Chiarini 1979
Chiarini, M., Gli Uffizi: Catalogo generale, Florence, 1979.
Codell 2003
Codell, J.F., The Victorian Artist: Artists’ Lifewritings in Britain, c.1870–1910, Cambridge and New York, 2003.
Cooper 1876–83
Cooper, T., Men of Mark: A Gallery of Contemporary Portraits of Men Distinguished in the Senate, the Church, in Science, Literature and Art, the Army, Navy, Law, Medicine, etc. Photographed from life by Lock and Whitfield, London, 7 ser., 1876–83.
Cowling 2004b
Cowling, M., ‘Orchardson, Sir William Quiller (1832–1910)’, ODNB, Oxford, 2004; online ed., October 2008.
Denker 1995
Denker, E., In Pursuit of the Butterfly: Portraits of James McNeill Whistler, exh. cat., National Portrait Gallery, Washington, DC, 1995.
Errington 1983
Errington, L., Master Class: Robert Scott Lauder and His Pupils, exh. cat., National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh, 1983.
Furniss 1923
Furniss, H., Some Victorian Women: Good, Bad and Indifferent, London, 1923.
Gillett 1990
Gillett, P., The Victorian Painter’s World, Stroud, Glos., 1990.
Gray 1930
Gray, H.O., The Life of Sir William Quiller Orchardson RA, DCL, HRSA, PSPP, London, 1930.
Hare & Bielecka 2006
Hare, B., and P. Bielecka, Divided Selves: The Scottish Self-Portrait from the 17th Century to the Present, exh. cat., Talbot Rice Gallery, Edinburgh and Fleming Collection, London, 2006.
Jones et al. 1996
Jones, S., and others, Frederic Leighton 1830–1896, exh. cat., Royal Academy, London, 1996.
McMaster 2008
McMaster, J., ‘That Mighty Art of Black-and-White: Linley Sambourne, Punch and the Royal Academy’, British Art Journal, Autumn 2008, pp.62–76.
McMaster 2009
McMaster, J., That Mighty Art of Black-and-White: Linley Sambourne, Punch and the Royal Academy, Edmonton, Canada, 2009.
Monkhouse 1899
Monkhouse, W.C., British Contemporary Artists, London and New York, 1899.
Noakes 1978
Noakes, A., William Frith: Extraordinary Victorian Painter, London, 1978.
Orchardson 1913
Masterpieces of W.Q. Orchardson, Glasgow and London, 1913.
Orchardson 1972
Sir William Quiller Orchardson RA., exh. cat., Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh, Aberdeen Art Gallery, Dundee City Art Gallery, Manchester Art Gallery, Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle, Fine Art Society, London and Glasgow Art Gallery and Museum: Edinburgh, 1972.
Ormond 2010
Ormond, L., Linley Sambourne: Illustrator and Punch Cartoonist, London, 2010.
Ormond & Ormond 1975
Ormond, L., and R. Ormond, Lord Leighton, London, 1975.
Price 1914
Price, J.M., My Bohemian Days in London, London, 1914.
Robinson [1892]
Robinson, R.W., Members and Associates of the Royal Academy of Arts, 1891. Photographed in their Studios by Ralph W. Robinson of Redhill, n.p., [1892].
Smailes 1990
Smailes, H., comp., The Concise Catalogue of the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, Edinburgh, 1990.
Swanson 1977
Swanson, V.G., Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema: Painter of the Victorian Vision of the Ancient World, London, 1977.
[Wood] 1984
[Wood, C., intro.,] A Fraternity of Artists: A Set of Sixty-two Portraits of Late Victorian Artists, by Walker Hodgson, exh. leaflet, Christopher Wood Gallery, London, 1984.