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- Frederick Tayler
- Also known as
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Frederick Tayler
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primary name: Tayler, John Frederick
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other name: Tayler, Frederick
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other name: Taylor, Frederick
- Details
- individual; painter/draughtsman; printmaker; British; Male
- Life dates
- 1806-1889
- Biography
- Born 30 April 1806, Borehamwood, Hertforshire, one of 17 children. A younger brother, William Tayler, became commissioner of Patna in India, and an uncle, Charles Henry Hall, was dean of Christ Church, Oxford. Educated at both Eton College and Harrow School. Though intended for the church he decided to pursue a career as an artist, attending Henry Sass's school in Bloomsbury and the Royal Academy Schools. the animal paintings of Theodore Géricault inspired Tayler to take lessons from the equestrian artist Horace Vernet. Shared a studio with Richard Parkes Bonnington. Sketched on the French coast with John Skinner Prout. In 1831 he was elected an associate of the Society of Painters in Water Colours, and became a full member three years later, exhibited 500 works with the society in all. Queen Victoria became an important patron and purchased work for Windsor Castle. Tayler's work can be divided into three groups: sporting scenes, pastoral scenes, mostly Scottish; and historical illustrations, often inspired by the Waverley novels. 1855 spent eight months as acting president of the Society of Painters in Water Colours on the death of Copley Fielding. Received the Légion d'honneur, amongst other awards, elected a member of the Pennsylvanian and the Royal Cambrian academies, and of the Société des Aquerellistes of Belgium. Died at his home, 63 Gascony Avenue, West Hampstead, on 20 June 1889 and was buried in Hampstead cemetery. His remaining works were sold by Christies on 27 January and 17 February 1890.
- Bibliography
- ODNB
R K Engen, Dictionary of Victorian Wood Engravers, 1985
‘BRITISH ARTISTS: THEIR STYLE AND CHARACTER, WITH ENGRAVED ILLUSTRATIONS,’ in Art journal, 1839-1912; Nov 1858; 47; British Periodicals p. 329.
M. Pointon: The Bonington Circle: English Watercolour and Anglo-French Landscape, 1790–1855, Brighton, 1985.
