Later Victorian Portraits Catalogue
Matthew Ridley Corbet (1850-1902), Painter
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- Biography and References
Landscape painter; born 20 May 1850 in Lincolnshire, related through his mother to Viscount Ridley. Studied at Slade and Royal Academy Schools; exhibited RA 1875–1902, Grosvenor Gallery 1880–88; from 1880 travelled in Egypt and Italy; elected ARA January 1902; died London, 25 June 1902.
In Italy, Corbet joined the ‘Etruscan school’ of artists around Giovanni Costa; his knowledge of Italian landscape was described as ‘that of a poet-painter’. [1] His circle of friends included Alfred Gilbert and (Edward) Onslow Ford and his wife Edith was also a landscape painter.
Described as ‘a fitting example of the flower of English aristocracy … a man of the deepest refinement and sensibility; a true artist by nature and a very gallant gentleman’,Corbet was also ‘one of the best-humoured men imaginable, possessing an absolutely even temper which was tested sometimes by [Gilbert’s] practical jokes’. [2]
Dr Jan Marsh
In Italy, Corbet joined the ‘Etruscan school’ of artists around Giovanni Costa; his knowledge of Italian landscape was described as ‘that of a poet-painter’. [1] His circle of friends included Alfred Gilbert and (Edward) Onslow Ford and his wife Edith was also a landscape painter.
Described as ‘a fitting example of the flower of English aristocracy … a man of the deepest refinement and sensibility; a true artist by nature and a very gallant gentleman’,Corbet was also ‘one of the best-humoured men imaginable, possessing an absolutely even temper which was tested sometimes by [Gilbert’s] practical jokes’. [2]
Dr Jan Marsh
Footnotesback to top
1) AJ, 1902, p.93; see also Hardie 1912b; Newall 2004a.
2) McAllister 1929, p.59.
Referencesback to top
Dorment 1985Dorment, R., Alfred Gilbert, New Haven and London, 1985.
Dorment et al. 1986
Dorment, R., and others, Alfred Gilbert: Sculptor and Goldsmith, exh. cat., Royal Academy, London, 1986.
Hamilton 1921
Hamilton, J.M., Men I Have Painted, London, 1921.
Hardie 1912b
Hardie, M., ‘Corbet, Matthew Ridley (1850–1902)’, DNB, supplement 2, London, 1912.
Jones 1979
Jones, M., Medal: Mirror of History, exh. cat., British Museum, London, 1979.
McAllister 1929
McAllister, I.G., Alfred Gilbert, London, 1929.
Newall 2004a
Newall, C., ‘Corbet, Matthew Ridley (1850–1902)’, ODNB, Oxford, 2004.