Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Bristowe, Edmund
BRISTOWE, EDMUND (1787–1876), painter, the son of an heraldic painter, was born at Windsor 1 April 1787, and passed his life at Windsor and Eton. At an early age he was patronised by the Princess Elizabeth, the Duke of Clarence (afterwards William IV), and others. He made sketches of well-known characters in Eton and Windsor, painted still life, interiors, and domestic and sporting subjects. He had great sympathy with animals, some power of rendering their characteristic movements and expressions, and is said to have given suggestions to Landseer. In 1809 he exhibited at the Royal Academy 'Smith shoeing a Horse,' and was an occasional exhibitor there and at the rooms of the British Institution, and at those of the Society of British Artists, until the year 1838, when he exhibited the 'Donkey Race' at Suffolk Street.
Bristowe was a man of independent eccentric views, would not work to order, and sometimes refused to sell even his finished productions. He is said to have excelled in the delineation of monkeys, cats, and horses. His works, feeble in technique and little known, are scattered about in private galleries, some being in the royal collection at Windsor. Among them may be mentioned 'Monkey Pugilists,' 'Cat's Paw,' 'Law and Justice,' 'Incredulity,' 'The Rehearsal,' 'Pros and Cons of Life.' Engravings of a few of his works have appeared in the 'Sporting Magazine' and elsewhere.
He produced little during the fifteen years immediately preceding his death, which took place at Eton, 12 Feb. 1876.
[Cat. Roy. Acad.; Cat. Brit. Inst.; Cat. Soc. Brit. Artists; Windsor Gazette, 19 Feb. 1876; Windsor Express, 19 Feb. 1876; Redgrave's Dict. of Artists (1878).]
Dictionary of National Biography, Errata (1904), p.37
N.B.— f.e. stands for from end and l.l. for last line
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Bristowe, Edmund: for Bristowe read Bristow |
