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{{For|the Canadian politician|Frederick George Sandy}}{{short description|English Pre-Raphaelite painter (1829–1904)}}
[[Image:Mariya Magdalena.jpg|thumb|''Mary Magdalene''. Ca. 1860.]]
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2020}}
[[Image:Morganlfay.jpg|thumb|right|''[[Morgan le Fay]]'', 1864 (Birmingham Art Gallery)]]
{{Infobox artist
'''Anthony Frederick Augustus Sandys''' ([[May 1]], [[1829]], [[Norwich, England]]—[[June 25]], [[1904]], [[London]]), usually known as "Frederick Sandys", was a [[Briton|British]] [[Pre-Raphaelite]] painter, illustrator and draughtsman, of the [[Victorian era]].
| name = Frederick Sandys
| image = Sands - Portrait of Sandys, 1848.jpg
| imagesize =
| alt =
| caption = Portrait of Frederick Sandys by his father [[Anthony Sand]] (1848)
| birth_name =
| birth_date = {{birth date|df=yes|1829|05|01}}
| birth_place = [[Norwich]], England
| death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|1904|06|25|1829|05|01}}
| death_place = [[Kensington]], London, England
| nationality = British
| field = Landscape painting
| training = [[John Crome]]
| movement = [[Norwich University of the Arts|Norwich School of Design]]; [[Norwich School of painters]]
| works =
| patrons =
| relatives = [[Emma Sandys]] (sister)
| influenced by =
| awards =
| website =
}}


'''Anthony Frederick Augustus Sandys''' (born '''Antonio Frederic Augustus Sands'''; 1 May 1829 – 25 June 1904), usually known as '''Frederick Sandys''', was a British painter, illustrator, and draughtsman, associated with the [[Pre-Raphaelites]].<ref name=Early>{{cite web |title=Sandys' Life and Times: Early Years |url=http://www.sandys.norfolk.gov.uk/fsbiog1.htm |publisher=Norwich Castle Museum & Art Gallery |access-date=14 June 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110724015406/http://www.sandys.norfolk.gov.uk/fsbiog1.htm |archive-date=24 July 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref> He was also associated with the [[Norwich School of painters]].
He received his earliest lessons in art from his father, who was himself a painter. His early studies show that he had a natural gift for careful and beautiful drawing. In [[1846]] Sandys attended the Norwich School of Design. In the same and next year his talent was recognized by the [[Society of Arts]]. He displayed great skills as a draughtsman, achieving recognition with his print parodying [[John Everett Millais]]'s ''Sir Isumbras at the Ford'' in 1857. The caricaturist turned the horse of Sir Isumbras into a donkey labelled J. R., Oxon. ([[John Ruskin]]). Upon it were seated Millais himself, in the character of the knight, with [[Dante Gabriel Rossetti|Rossetti]] and [[William Holman Hunt]] as the two children, one before and one behind. Rossetti and Sandys became intimate friends, and for about a year and a quarter, ending in the summer of 1867, Sandys lived with Rossetti at Tudor House (now called Queens House) in [[Cheyne Walk]], [[Chelsea]]. His own works were profoundly influenced by those of Rossetti. He focused mainly on mythological subjects and portraits.


==Biography==
By this time Sandys was known as a painter of remarkable gifts. He had begun by drawing for [[Once a Week]], the [[Cornhill Magazine]], [[Good Words]] and other periodicals. He drew only in the magazines. No books illustrated by him can be traced. So his exquisite draughtsmanship has to be sought for in the old bound-up periodical volumes which are now hunted by collectors, or in publications such as Dalziels' Bible Gallery and the Cornhill Gallery and books of drawings, with verses attached to them, made to lie upon the drawing-room tables of those who bad for the most part no idea of their merits. Every drawing Sandys made was a work of art, and many of them were so faithfully engraved that they are worthy of the collectors portfolio. Early in the sixties he began to exhibit the paintings which set the seal upon his fame. The best known of these are ''Vivien'' (1863), ''[[Morgan le Fay]]'' (1864), ''Cassandra'' and ''Medea''. Sandys never became a popular painter. He painted little, and the dominant influence upon his art was the influence exercised by lofty conceptions of tragic power. There was in it a sombre intensity and an almost stern beauty which lifted it far above the ideals of the crowd. The Scandinavian Sagas and the Morte d'Art/fur gave him subjects after his own heart. The Valkyrie and Morgan Ic Fay represent his work at its very best. He made a number of chalk drawings of famous men of letters, including [[Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson|Tennyson]], [[Robert Browning|Browning]], [[Matthew Arnold]], and [[James Russell Lowell]].


===Artistic studies===
Frederick Sandys was born in [[Norwich, England|Norwich]],<ref name="FS">Antonio Fredric Augustus Sands in "Parish registers for St. Stephen's Church, Norwich", ''FamilySearch'' ([https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:J92C-5TR Antonio Fredric Augustus Sands]).</ref> and received his earliest lessons in art from his father, [[Anthony Sands]], who was himself a painter.<ref name=Early/> His early studies show that he had a natural gift for careful and beautiful drawing.<ref name="EB1911">{{EB1911|inline=y|wstitle=Sandys, Frederick|volume=24|page=144}}</ref> He was educated at [[Norwich School]] and later attended the [[Norwich School of Art & Design|Norwich School of Design]] in 1846.<ref>Betty Elzea, [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/35937 ‘Sandys, (Anthony) Frederick Augustus (1829–1904)’], ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 2004, accessed 2 October 2013</ref> In the same and next year his talent was recognized by the [[Royal Society of Arts]].


===Personal relationships===
==External link==
Sandys married Georgiana Creed, but this marriage only lasted three years, although they never divorced. He had a long affair with the [[Romani people|Romany]] woman [[Keomi Gray]], who sat as a model both for him and [[Dante Gabriel Rossetti]] ([[The Beloved (Rossetti)|The Beloved]]), and perhaps also for [[Simeon Solomon]].<ref>{{cite web|title='The Beloved' 1865-6, by Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828–1882)|url=http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/walker/exhibitions/rossetti/works/beauties/thebeloved.aspx|publisher=National Museums Liverpool|access-date=15 June 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |journal=Victorian Review |volume=34 |title=Solomon, Swinburne, Sappho |first=Elizabeth |last=Prettejohn |author-link=Elizabeth Prettejohn |page=108 |publisher=Victorian Studies Association of Western Canada |year=2008 |issue=2 |doi=10.1353/vcr.2008.0034 |s2cid=162021320 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XsEWAQAAMAAJ}}</ref> He and Gray had two daughters and two sons.<ref>{{cite journal |journal=Journal of the Gypsy Lore Society |year=1953 |page=154 |title=The Grays of Sir Alfred Munnings' ''Autobiography'' |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WarjAAAAMAAJ}}</ref>
* [http://www.topofart.com/artists/Anthony_Friederick_Augustus_Sandys/ Reproductions]
[[File:Mary Emma Jones, by Emma Sandys.jpg|thumb|''Mary Emma Jones'', by [[Emma Sandys]], 1874]]
In 1862 Sandys met actress Mary Emma Jones, known as Miss Clive, when she modeled for ''The Magdalen'', now owned by the Norwich Castle Museum. A relationship developed between the two; he became devoted to her, taking her as his common-law wife for the rest of his life. She gave birth to a large number of children, 10 of whom were raised under the name of Neville and survived after Sandys's death. She appears in paintings such as Sandys's ''[[Love's Shadow]]'' and his 1867 work ''Proud Maisie'', which was inspired by Mary--so much so that he made at least 11 versions by 1904.<ref name="ODNB"/>


Sandys influenced his younger sister, [[Emma Sandys]] (1841–1877), whose works were mainly portraits of children and of young women, often in period or medieval clothing.
{{commons|Category:Anthony Frederick Augustus Sandys}}
[[File:Anthony Sandys, by Anthony Frederick Augustus Sandys.jpg|thumb|Portrait of [[Anthony Sands]] by his son Frederick Sandys, 1849]]
He died in [[Kensington]] in west London in 1904.


==Works==
[[Category:English painters|Sandys, Frederick]]
[[Category:English illustrators|Sandys, Frederick]]
[[Category:Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood|Sandys, Frederick]]
[[Category:1829 births|Sandys, Frederick]]
[[Category:1904 deaths|Sandys, Frederick]]


===Early work===
[[es:Anthony Frederick Augustus Sandys]]
[[File:The Nightmare - Frederick Sandys.jpg|thumb|200px|''The Nightmare'', 1857]]
[[fr:Anthony Frederick Augustus Sandys]]

[[sv:Frederick Sandys]]
Sandys displayed great skills as a draughtsman, achieving recognition with his print ''The Nightmare'' (1857), parodying [[John Everett Millais]]'s ''Sir Isumbras at the Ford''.<ref name=Pre>{{cite web|title=Sandys and the Pre-Raphelites: A Nightmare|url=http://www.sandys.norfolk.gov.uk/preraph1.htm|publisher=Norwich Castle Museum & Art Gallery|access-date=14 June 2011|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110724015437/http://www.sandys.norfolk.gov.uk/preraph1.htm|archive-date=24 July 2011}}</ref> The caricaturist turned the horse of Sir Isumbras into a laughing donkey labelled "J. R., Oxon.", understood as a reference to [[John Ruskin]]. Upon the donkey was seated Millais himself, in the character of the knight, with [[Dante Gabriel Rossetti|Rossetti]] and [[William Holman Hunt|Holman Hunt]] replacing the two children, one before and one behind.<ref name="EB1911"/><ref name=Pre/> The caricature, produced using the new autographic lithographic process, caused a lot of talk about who the artist might be and ultimately introduced Sandys to the London art community.<ref name="ODNB">{{cite ODNB |last=Elzea |first=Betty |year=2004 |title=(Anthony) Frederick Augustus Sandys |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/35937 |url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/35937 |access-date=15 June 2011 }}</ref>
Rossetti and Sandys became close friends, and from May 1866 to July 1867, Sandys lived with Rossetti at 16, [[Cheyne Walk]], [[Chelsea, London|Chelsea]].<ref name="EB1911"/> Sandys's works were profoundly influenced by those of Rossetti. He focused mainly on mythological subjects and portraits.<ref name="ODNB"/>

===Drawings and illustration===
[[File:Great Yarmouth and Breydon Water (1871, Frederick Sandys).jpg|thumb|''Great Yarmouth and Breydon Water'' (1871), [[Tate Britain]]]]
'''Wood-engravings'''<br>
Some of the first introductions to Pre-Raphaelite teachings emerged in magazines, such as ''[[Once A Week (magazine)|Once a Week]]'', the ''[[Cornhill Magazine]]'', ''[[Good Words]]'' and ''Sunday Magazine''.<ref>{{cite book | title=English Pen Artists of To-day | author=Harper, Charles George | publisher=Macmillan and Company | location=New York | year=1892 | page=72 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9fEOAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA72 }}</ref> Sandys began drawing in the 1860s for ''[[Once A Week (magazine)|Once a Week]]'', the ''[[Cornhill Magazine]]'', ''[[Good Words]]'' and other periodicals, his work influenced by [[Albrecht Dürer]], [[Ambrosius Holbein]], and [[Alfred Rethel]]. Sandys made a total of 26 between 1859 and 1866, but each was a fine representation of this genre, faithfully engraved by professional wood-engravers, including the [[Brothers Dalziel|Dalziel brothers]] and [[Joseph Swain (engraver)|Joseph Swain]], and they are worthy of the collector's portfolio.<ref name="ODNB"/> For the engravers to be successful in carving the intricate illustrations onto wood, they needed to start with a detailed, clear design from the artist.<ref name=NorwichDrawing>{{cite web |url=http://www.sandys.norfolk.gov.uk/draught3.htm |title=The Greatest of Living Draughtsmen: Drawing Stories |publisher=Norwich Castle Museum & Art Gallery |access-date=14 June 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110724015443/http://www.sandys.norfolk.gov.uk/draught3.htm |archive-date=24 July 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Sandys had an eye and talent for exacting detail, an intention to accurately reflect the subject, revealed in the quality of his works, equally impressive for its technical detail as for its imaginative point of view.<ref>{{cite book | title=English Pen Artists of To-day | author=Harper, Charles George | publisher=Macmillan and Company | location=New York | year=1892 | page=92 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9fEOAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA92 }}</ref>

Sandys's ''The Death of King Warwulf'' is an example of his ability to create drawings that translated well for the engravings. Swirling shapes of flames, the curve of the boat, its sail and the king's clothes that surround him create a feeling of movement. The focal point is the king's bowed head.<ref name=NorwichDrawing/>

His last woodcut was on the subject of ''Danaë in the Brazen Chamber''. It was engraved by Swain for ''Once A Week'' but suppressed by the publication's editor, despite Sandys having the support of the magazine's publishers, on the grounds that it was too sensuous.<ref>{{cite book |first=George Somes |last=Layard |author-link=George Somes Layard |title=Suppressed Plates, Wood Engravings &c. |chapter=Cancelled Designs for ''Punch'' and ''Once A Week'' |pages=127–148 |year=1907 |location=London |publisher=Adam & Charles Black |url=https://archive.org/details/suppressedplates00laya |access-date=2011-06-15}}</ref>

He drew only in the magazines. No books illustrated by him can be traced. So his exquisite draughtsmanship has to be sought for in the old bound-up periodical volumes which are now hunted by collectors, or in publications such as ''Dalziels' Bible Gallery'' and the ''Cornhill Gallery'' and books of drawings, with verses attached to them, made to lie upon the drawing-room tables of those who had for the most part no idea of their merits.<ref name="EB1911"/>

<gallery widths="180px" heights="180px" perrow="3">
File:The Death of King Warwulf - Frederick Sandys.jpg|''The Death of King Warwulf'', 1862
File:Danae in the Brazen Chamber - Frederick Sandys.jpg|''Danaë in the Brazen Chamber'', wood-engraving, signed by Swain, [[Museum of Fine Arts, Boston]]
File:The Advent of Winter - Frederick Sandys.jpg|''The Advent of Winter''
</gallery>

'''Chalk drawings of lettered men'''<br>
He made a number of chalk drawings of famous men of letters, including [[Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson|Tennyson]], [[Robert Browning|Browning]], [[Matthew Arnold]], and [[James Russell Lowell]].<ref name="EB1911"/>

'''Studies for paintings'''<br>
''Study for Vivien'' depicts Sandys's lover, Keomi Gray, as Vivien of [[Alfred, Lord Tennyson|Tennyson]]'s poem ''[[Idylls of the King]]''. In the poem Vivien is the femme fatale in the story of King Arthur who used her looks to seduce Merlin to learn his secrets. Sandys had previously used tales from King Arthur as inspiration for his work, such as ''King Pelles' Daughter''. He was drawn to stories of women who "seduce, entrap and destroy men, such as [[Helen of Troy]], [[Morgan Le Fay]] and [[Medea]]." Sandys portrays Vivien as a beautiful, self-assured woman. The apple placed in front of her may refer to the story of Adam and Eve.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.sandys.norfolk.gov.uk/sand004.htm |title=Frederick Sandys: ''Study for Vivien'' |publisher=Norwich Castle Museum and Art Gallery |access-date=14 June 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110724015457/http://www.sandys.norfolk.gov.uk/sand004.htm |archive-date=24 July 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

''Study for Autumn'', made in 1860, is one of the many studies Sandys made before painting ''Autumn'' and provides evidence of Sandys's skill as a draughtsman. He captures minute details, such as the soldier's uniform and the plants and flowers. The study is much like the finished painting, except that the ginger jar is in the foreground.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.sandys.norfolk.gov.uk/sand001.htm |title=Frederick Sandys: ''Study for Autumn'' |publisher=Norwich Castle Museum and Art Gallery |access-date=15 June 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110724015515/http://www.sandys.norfolk.gov.uk/sand001.htm |archive-date=24 July 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

<gallery widths="180px" heights="180px" perrow="3">
File:Study for Vivien - Frederick Sandys.jpg|''Study for Vivien'', black and red chalk, [[Norwich Castle|Norwich Castle Museum and Art Gallery]]
File:Autumn 1860 Frederick Sandys.jpg|''Study for Autumn'', 1860, [[Norwich Castle]] Museum and Art Gallery
File:Spring - 1860 - Frederick Sandys.jpg|''Study for Spring'', 1860, [[Norwich Castle]] Museum and Art Gallery
</gallery>

===Paintings===
[[File:Mariya Magdalena.jpg|thumb|''[[Mary Magdalene (Sandys painting)|Mary Magdalene]]'', c. 1859, [[Delaware Art Museum]]]]
Early in the 1860s he began to exhibit the paintings which set the seal upon his fame. The best known of these are ''Vivien'' (1863), ''[[Morgan le Fay (painting)|Morgan le Fay]]'' (1864), ''Cassandra'' and ''[[Medea (Sandys painting)|Medea]]'' (1868).<ref name="EB1911"/>

Sandys never became a popular painter. He painted little, and the dominant influence upon his art was the influence exercised by lofty conceptions of tragic power. There was in it a sombre intensity and an almost stern beauty which lifted it far above the ideals of the crowd. The ''Scandinavian Sagas'' and ''Le Morte d'Arthur'' gave him subjects after his own heart, and ''The Valkyrie'' and ''[[Morgan le Fay (painting)|Morgan le Fay]]'' represent some of his best work.<ref name="EB1911"/>

<gallery widths="160px" heights="180px">
File:Anthony Frederick Sandys - Queen Eleanor.JPG|''[[Queen Eleanor (painting)|Queen Eleanor]]'', 1858, [[National Museum Cardiff]]
File:Frederick Sandys - King Pelles Daughter.jpg|''King Pelle's Daughter'', 1861
File:Sandys, Frederick - Morgan le Fay.JPG|''[[Morgan le Fay (painting)|Morgan le Fay]]'', 1864, [[Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery]]
File:Grace Rose by Frederick Sandys.png|''Grace Rose'', 1866, [[Yale Center for British Art]]
File:Love's Shadow - Anthony Frederick Augustus Sandys.jpg|''[[Love's Shadow]]'', 1867
File:Helen of Troy - Anthony Frederick Augustus Sandys.jpg|''Helen of Troy'', 1867, [[Walker Art Gallery]]
File:Medea-Sandys.jpg|''[[Medea (Sandys painting)|Medea]]'', 1868, [[Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery]]
</gallery>

==See also==
*[[Emma Sandys]] – painter, his sister
*[[List of Pre-Raphaelite paintings]] – including the work of Anthony Frederick Augustus Sandys.

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
*{{cite book |first=Betty |last=Elzea |title=Frederick Sandys 1829–1904: A Catalogue Raisonne |publisher=Antique Collectors Club |year=2001 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1YTqAAAAMAAJ |isbn=978-1-85149-397-5}}
*{{cite journal |journal=The International Studio |volume=24 |issue=93 |title=The Late Frederick Sandys: A Retrospect |last=Bate |first=Percy |date=November 1904 |pages=3–17 |location=New York |publisher=John Lane & Son |hdl=2027/mdp.39015086590737?urlappend=%3Bseq=39 |url=http://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015086590737?urlappend=%3Bseq=39 |access-date=2011-06-15}}
*{{cite book |first=Gleeson |last=White |title=English Illustration: 'The Sixties' 1855–1870 |publisher=Echo Library |year=2009 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RbtoN5eO-sYC |isbn=978-1-84830-190-0 }}{{Dead link|date=May 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}
* {{cite book|first=Elizabeth|last=Prettejohn|title=The Art of the Pre-Raphaelites|edition=first|publisher=Tate Gallery Publishing Limited|year=2000|isbn=0-691-07057-1|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/artofpreraphaeli0000pret}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Anthony Frederick Augustus Sandys}}
*{{ARC artist|478}}
*[http://norfolkmuseumscollections.org/#!/collections/search?q=frederick%2Bsandys&mediaType=image Works by Frederick Sandys] in the Norfolk Museums Collections
*[http://www.preraphaelites.org/the-collection/artist-biography/frederick-sandys/ Birmingham Museums & Art Gallery's Pre-Raphaelite Online Resource] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190617065322/http://www.preraphaelites.org/the-collection/artist-biography/frederick-sandys/ |date=17 June 2019 }} Large online collection of works by Frederick Sandys
*[http://www.artcyclopedia.com/artists/sandys_frederick.html Frederick Sandys] at Artcylopaedia.
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20070729194417/http://www.sandys.norfolk.gov.uk/ Frederick Sandys & the Pre-Raphaelites] at Norwich Castle Museum & Art Gallery.
*{{Art UK bio}}

{{Frederick Sandys}}
{{Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood|state=expanded}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sandys, Frederick}}
[[Category:1829 births]]
[[Category:1904 deaths]]
[[Category:19th-century English painters]]
[[Category:English male painters]]
[[Category:20th-century British painters]]
[[Category:English illustrators]]
[[Category:Pre-Raphaelite painters]]
[[Category:People educated at Norwich School]]
[[Category:Alumni of Norwich University of the Arts]]
[[Category:Artists from Norwich]]
[[Category:Burials at Brompton Cemetery]]
[[Category:Pre-Raphaelite illustrators]]
[[Category:19th-century English male artists]]
[[Category:20th-century British male artists]]

Latest revision as of 10:46, 3 November 2024

For the Canadian politician, see Frederick George Sandy.

Frederick Sandys
Portrait of Frederick Sandys by his father Anthony Sand (1848)
Born(1829-05-01)1 May 1829
Norwich, England
Died25 June 1904(1904-06-25) (aged 75)
Kensington, London, England
NationalityBritish
EducationJohn Crome
Known forLandscape painting
MovementNorwich School of Design; Norwich School of painters
RelativesEmma Sandys (sister)

Anthony Frederick Augustus Sandys (born Antonio Frederic Augustus Sands; 1 May 1829 – 25 June 1904), usually known as Frederick Sandys, was a British painter, illustrator, and draughtsman, associated with the Pre-Raphaelites.[1] He was also associated with the Norwich School of painters.

Biography

[edit]

Artistic studies

[edit]

Frederick Sandys was born in Norwich,[2] and received his earliest lessons in art from his father, Anthony Sands, who was himself a painter.[1] His early studies show that he had a natural gift for careful and beautiful drawing.[3] He was educated at Norwich School and later attended the Norwich School of Design in 1846.[4] In the same and next year his talent was recognized by the Royal Society of Arts.

Personal relationships

[edit]

Sandys married Georgiana Creed, but this marriage only lasted three years, although they never divorced. He had a long affair with the Romany woman Keomi Gray, who sat as a model both for him and Dante Gabriel Rossetti (The Beloved), and perhaps also for Simeon Solomon.[5][6] He and Gray had two daughters and two sons.[7]

Mary Emma Jones, by Emma Sandys, 1874

In 1862 Sandys met actress Mary Emma Jones, known as Miss Clive, when she modeled for The Magdalen, now owned by the Norwich Castle Museum. A relationship developed between the two; he became devoted to her, taking her as his common-law wife for the rest of his life. She gave birth to a large number of children, 10 of whom were raised under the name of Neville and survived after Sandys's death. She appears in paintings such as Sandys's Love's Shadow and his 1867 work Proud Maisie, which was inspired by Mary--so much so that he made at least 11 versions by 1904.[8]

Sandys influenced his younger sister, Emma Sandys (1841–1877), whose works were mainly portraits of children and of young women, often in period or medieval clothing.

Portrait of Anthony Sands by his son Frederick Sandys, 1849

He died in Kensington in west London in 1904.

Works

[edit]

Early work

[edit]
The Nightmare, 1857

Sandys displayed great skills as a draughtsman, achieving recognition with his print The Nightmare (1857), parodying John Everett Millais's Sir Isumbras at the Ford.[9] The caricaturist turned the horse of Sir Isumbras into a laughing donkey labelled "J. R., Oxon.", understood as a reference to John Ruskin. Upon the donkey was seated Millais himself, in the character of the knight, with Rossetti and Holman Hunt replacing the two children, one before and one behind.[3][9] The caricature, produced using the new autographic lithographic process, caused a lot of talk about who the artist might be and ultimately introduced Sandys to the London art community.[8]

Rossetti and Sandys became close friends, and from May 1866 to July 1867, Sandys lived with Rossetti at 16, Cheyne Walk, Chelsea.[3] Sandys's works were profoundly influenced by those of Rossetti. He focused mainly on mythological subjects and portraits.[8]

Drawings and illustration

[edit]
Great Yarmouth and Breydon Water (1871), Tate Britain

Wood-engravings
Some of the first introductions to Pre-Raphaelite teachings emerged in magazines, such as Once a Week, the Cornhill Magazine, Good Words and Sunday Magazine.[10] Sandys began drawing in the 1860s for Once a Week, the Cornhill Magazine, Good Words and other periodicals, his work influenced by Albrecht Dürer, Ambrosius Holbein, and Alfred Rethel. Sandys made a total of 26 between 1859 and 1866, but each was a fine representation of this genre, faithfully engraved by professional wood-engravers, including the Dalziel brothers and Joseph Swain, and they are worthy of the collector's portfolio.[8] For the engravers to be successful in carving the intricate illustrations onto wood, they needed to start with a detailed, clear design from the artist.[11] Sandys had an eye and talent for exacting detail, an intention to accurately reflect the subject, revealed in the quality of his works, equally impressive for its technical detail as for its imaginative point of view.[12]

Sandys's The Death of King Warwulf is an example of his ability to create drawings that translated well for the engravings. Swirling shapes of flames, the curve of the boat, its sail and the king's clothes that surround him create a feeling of movement. The focal point is the king's bowed head.[11]

His last woodcut was on the subject of Danaë in the Brazen Chamber. It was engraved by Swain for Once A Week but suppressed by the publication's editor, despite Sandys having the support of the magazine's publishers, on the grounds that it was too sensuous.[13]

He drew only in the magazines. No books illustrated by him can be traced. So his exquisite draughtsmanship has to be sought for in the old bound-up periodical volumes which are now hunted by collectors, or in publications such as Dalziels' Bible Gallery and the Cornhill Gallery and books of drawings, with verses attached to them, made to lie upon the drawing-room tables of those who had for the most part no idea of their merits.[3]

  • The Death of King Warwulf, 1862
    The Death of King Warwulf, 1862
  • Danaë in the Brazen Chamber, wood-engraving, signed by Swain, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
    Danaë in the Brazen Chamber, wood-engraving, signed by Swain, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
  • The Advent of Winter
    The Advent of Winter

Chalk drawings of lettered men
He made a number of chalk drawings of famous men of letters, including Tennyson, Browning, Matthew Arnold, and James Russell Lowell.[3]

Studies for paintings
Study for Vivien depicts Sandys's lover, Keomi Gray, as Vivien of Tennyson's poem Idylls of the King. In the poem Vivien is the femme fatale in the story of King Arthur who used her looks to seduce Merlin to learn his secrets. Sandys had previously used tales from King Arthur as inspiration for his work, such as King Pelles' Daughter. He was drawn to stories of women who "seduce, entrap and destroy men, such as Helen of Troy, Morgan Le Fay and Medea." Sandys portrays Vivien as a beautiful, self-assured woman. The apple placed in front of her may refer to the story of Adam and Eve.[14]

Study for Autumn, made in 1860, is one of the many studies Sandys made before painting Autumn and provides evidence of Sandys's skill as a draughtsman. He captures minute details, such as the soldier's uniform and the plants and flowers. The study is much like the finished painting, except that the ginger jar is in the foreground.[15]

Paintings

[edit]
Mary Magdalene, c. 1859, Delaware Art Museum

Early in the 1860s he began to exhibit the paintings which set the seal upon his fame. The best known of these are Vivien (1863), Morgan le Fay (1864), Cassandra and Medea (1868).[3]

Sandys never became a popular painter. He painted little, and the dominant influence upon his art was the influence exercised by lofty conceptions of tragic power. There was in it a sombre intensity and an almost stern beauty which lifted it far above the ideals of the crowd. The Scandinavian Sagas and Le Morte d'Arthur gave him subjects after his own heart, and The Valkyrie and Morgan le Fay represent some of his best work.[3]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b "Sandys' Life and Times: Early Years". Norwich Castle Museum & Art Gallery. Archived from the original on 24 July 2011. Retrieved 14 June 2011.
  2. ^ Antonio Fredric Augustus Sands in "Parish registers for St. Stephen's Church, Norwich", FamilySearch (Antonio Fredric Augustus Sands).
  3. ^ a b c d e f g  One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Sandys, Frederick". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 24 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 144.
  4. ^ Betty Elzea, ‘Sandys, (Anthony) Frederick Augustus (1829–1904)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004, accessed 2 October 2013
  5. ^ "'The Beloved' 1865-6, by Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828–1882)". National Museums Liverpool. Retrieved 15 June 2011.
  6. ^ Prettejohn, Elizabeth (2008). "Solomon, Swinburne, Sappho". Victorian Review. 34 (2). Victorian Studies Association of Western Canada: 108. doi:10.1353/vcr.2008.0034. S2CID 162021320.
  7. ^ "The Grays of Sir Alfred Munnings' Autobiography". Journal of the Gypsy Lore Society: 154. 1953.
  8. ^ a b c d Elzea, Betty (2004). "(Anthony) Frederick Augustus Sandys". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/35937. Retrieved 15 June 2011. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  9. ^ a b "Sandys and the Pre-Raphelites: A Nightmare". Norwich Castle Museum & Art Gallery. Archived from the original on 24 July 2011. Retrieved 14 June 2011.
  10. ^ Harper, Charles George (1892). English Pen Artists of To-day. New York: Macmillan and Company. p. 72.
  11. ^ a b "The Greatest of Living Draughtsmen: Drawing Stories". Norwich Castle Museum & Art Gallery. Archived from the original on 24 July 2011. Retrieved 14 June 2011.
  12. ^ Harper, Charles George (1892). English Pen Artists of To-day. New York: Macmillan and Company. p. 92.
  13. ^ Layard, George Somes (1907). "Cancelled Designs for Punch and Once A Week". Suppressed Plates, Wood Engravings &c. London: Adam & Charles Black. pp. 127–148. Retrieved 15 June 2011.
  14. ^ "Frederick Sandys: Study for Vivien". Norwich Castle Museum and Art Gallery. Archived from the original on 24 July 2011. Retrieved 14 June 2011.
  15. ^ "Frederick Sandys: Study for Autumn". Norwich Castle Museum and Art Gallery. Archived from the original on 24 July 2011. Retrieved 15 June 2011.

Further reading

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