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Ford Brown
(1821-1893)
Brown, Ford Madox (1821-93). English painter.
He was born at Calais and trained at Antwerp (under Wappers), in Paris,
and at Rome, where he came into contact with the Nazarenes. Settling in
England in 1846, he became a friend of the Pre-Raphaelites and with his
taste for literary subjects and meticulous handling an influence on their
work, though he was never a member of the Brotherhood. Rossetti
studied briefly with him in 1848 and Brown's Chaucer at the Court of
Edward III (Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 1851) contains
portraits of several of the Brotherhood.
His best-known picture, The Last of England (City Art Gallery,
Birmingham, 1855) was inspired by the departure of Woolner, the Pre-Raphaelite
sculptor, for Australia. The other famous anthology piece that Brown painted,
Work (Manchester City Art Gallery, 1852-63), shows his dedicated
craftsmanship and brilliant coloring, but is somewhat swamped by its social
idealism. In 1861 Brown was a founder member of William Morris's company,
for which he designed stained glass and furniture. The major work of the
later part of his career is a cycle of paintings (1878-93) in Manchester
Town Hall on the history of the city. Brown was an individualist and a
man of prickly temperament; he opposed the Royal Academy and was a pioneer
of the one-man show.
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