Photo finish for old master who captured Victorian life

The 19th century Yorkshire artist considered the greatest painter since Hogarth of the English social scene, is the subject of a dramatic reappraisal at a gallery near his birthplace.
By The Newsroom
Published 25th Jul 2019, 13:40 BST
A Private View at the Royal Academy, by William Powell FrithA Private View at the Royal Academy, by William Powell Frith
A Private View at the Royal Academy, by William Powell Frith

William Powell Frith specialised in great panoramas of the passing parade of Victorian life. Charles Dickens was among his subjects, and his work graced Queen Victoria’s personal parlour.

His last major piece in 1881, A Private View at the Royal Academy, in which Oscar Wilde is shown among a crowd of art connoisseurs, has long been at Harrogate’s Mercer Gallery – but for in its latest showing, it is juxtaposed with a modern reinterpretation commissioned from the photographer, Jonathan Turner, in which presenters of ITV’s Calendar double for Wilde.

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Mary-Jane Ogden, a Harrogate jeweller who can also be seen in Turner’s photographs, said: “I think this is one of the best things the gallery has ever done – commissioning these modern recreations of great artworks from a different time.”

Frith, who hailed from Aldfield, near Fountains Abbey, and had 12 children, is also known for his sweeping paintings of Derby Day and Ramsgate Sands, in Kent.

Related topics:Charles DickensVictorianYorkshire