Later Victorian Portraits Catalogue

Stephen Pearce (1819-1904), Portrait and equestrian painter

Portrait and equestrian painter; born 16 November 1819, in London. Early life at King’s Mews, Charing Cross; studied at Sass’s Academy and Royal Academy Schools 1840–41; pupil of Sir Martin Archer Shee 1841; exh. RA from 1839; The Arctic Council (1851) spawned series of polar explorer portraits; paintings popularly known through prints published by Henry Graves & Co., Messrs Fores and Messrs Day; [1] retired from painting 1885; published memoirs 1903; [2] died 31 January 1904, in London.

His first and many subsequent RA exhibits were equestrian subjects, often life-size and predominantly male; his most ambitious equestrian group is Coursing at Ashdown Park (1869) (coll. Earl of Craven).

Carol Blackett-Ord

Footnotesback to top

1) ‘In spite of his popularity, or because of it, the RA refused him any recognition except to hang his pictures’; Paget 1949, p.144.
2) ‘[The memoirs] were published privately and are somewhat dull, possibly because it would not have been considered the thing for a successful portrait painter in those days to gossip or reveal any fascinating private life, if he had one.’ Letter from Mrs Hermione Morgan (Pearce’s great-granddaughter) to Robin Gibson, 29 Jan. 1976, NPG NoA (Pearce).

Referencesback to top

Graves 1905–6
Graves, A., The Royal Academy of Arts: A Complete Dictionary of Contributors and Their Work from its Foundation in 1769–1904, 8 vols, London, 1905–6; repr. in 4 vols, Bath, 1970.

Milner 1912
Milner, J.D., ‘Pearce, Stephen (1819–1904)’, DNB, London, 1912.

O’Neill 2004
O’Neill, M., ‘Pearce, Stephen (1819–1904)’, ODNB, Oxford, 2004

Ormond 1973
Ormond, R., National Portrait Gallery: Early Victorian Portraits, London, 1973.

Paget 1949
Paget, G., ‘Stephen Pearce’, Apollo, November 1949, vol.50, pp.142–4.

Pearce 1903
Pearce, S., Memories of the Past, privately printed, Edinburgh, 1903.


Carol Blackett-Ord