View source for John Collier (painter)

{{Short description|English painter and writer (1850–1934)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2020}}
{{EngvarB|date=January 2020}}
{{Infobox artist
| name             = John Collier
| honorific_suffix = [[Order of the British Empire|OBE]] [[Royal Society of Portrait Painters|RP]] [[Royal Institute of Oil Painters|ROI]]
| image            = Collier, Marion - Portrait of John Collier - circa 1882-1883.jpg
| image_upright    = 1
| caption          = ''John Collier'' by his first wife Marian, née Huxley, 1882
| birth_name       = John Maler Collier
| birth_date       = 27 January 1850
| birth_place      = [[Paddington]], [[Middlesex]]
| death_date       = {{death date and age|1934|4|11|1850|1|27|df=y}}
| death_place      = [[Eton Avenue]], London
| known_for        = Painter
| training         = Eton; Slade School of Fine Art
| movement         = [[Pre-Raphaelite]]; [[Orientalism]]
| notable_works    = 
| patrons          = 
| awards           = 
| honorific_prefix = [[The Honourable]]
| spouse           = {{plainlist|
* Marian Huxley
* Ethel Huxley
}}
}}

[[File:John Collier, 1895 - The Laboratory.jpg|thumb|''The Laboratory (''1895) from [[The Laboratory|Robert Browning's classic revenge poem.]] Now in the collection of [http://www.artsofimagination.org The Arts of Imagination Foundation].]]
'''John Maler Collier''' {{postnominals|size=100%|list=[[Officer of the Order of the British Empire|OBE]] [[Royal Institute of Oil Painters|ROI]] [[Royal Society of Portrait Painters|RP]]}} ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|k|ɒ|l|i|ər}}; 27 January 1850 – 11 April 1934) was an English painter and writer.<ref>Browne, Janet 2002. ''Charles Darwin: the power of place''. Cape, London p. 487–488.</ref> He painted in the [[Pre-Raphaelite]] style, and was one of the most prominent [[portrait painter]]s of his generation. Both of his marriages were to daughters of [[Thomas Henry Huxley]]. He was educated at [[Eton College]], and he studied painting in Paris with [[Jean-Paul Laurens]] and at the [[Munich Academy]] starting in 1875.

==Family==
{{See also|Huxley family}}
Collier was from a talented and successful family. His grandfather, John Collier, was a Quaker merchant who became a member of parliament. His father, [[Robert Collier, 1st Baron Monkswell|Robert]] (a member of parliament, [[Attorney General for England and Wales|Attorney General]] and, for many years, a full-time [[Judicial Committee of the Privy Council|judge of the Privy Council]]) was created the first [[Baron Monkswell|Lord Monkswell]]. Collier was a member of the [[New Society of Artists]] as well as the [[Royal Society of British Artists]]. He had artists' studios in his home at 7 [[Chelsea Embankment]] for the use of John and his wife Marion.<ref name="vch">{{cite web |title=Settlement and building: Artists and Chelsea Pages 102-106 A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 12, Chelsea. |url=https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/middx/vol12/pp102-106 |website=British History Online |publisher=Victoria County History, 2004 |access-date=21 December 2022}}</ref> John Collier's elder brother, [[Robert Collier, 2nd Baron Monkswell|the second Lord Monkswell]], was [[Under-Secretary of State for War]] and Chairman of the [[London County Council]].

[[Image:Marian Collier (née Huxley) by John Collier.jpg|thumb|220px|left|Collier's first wife, Marian Huxley, painted by her husband in 1883]]

In due course, Collier became an integral part of the family of [[Thomas Henry Huxley]] [[Privy councillor|PC]], President of the [[Royal Society]] from 1883 to 1885. Collier married two of Huxley's daughters and was "on terms of intimate friendship" with his son, the writer [[Leonard Huxley (writer)|Leonard Huxley]]. Collier's first wife, in 1879, was [[Marian Huxley]] (Mady). She was a painter who studied, like her husband, at the [[Slade School of Fine Art|Slade]] and exhibited at the [[Royal Academy]] and elsewhere. In 1881, the couple settled in [[Tite Street]], Chelsea, in a purpose-built studio house, alongside their friend [[Anna Lea Merritt]].<ref name="vch" /> After the birth of their only child{{mdash}}a daughter, Joyce{{mdash}}Marian suffered severe [[post-partum depression|post-natal depression]] and was taken to Paris for treatment where, however, she contracted [[pneumonia]] and died in 1887.  Joyce became a portrait miniaturist and was a member of the Royal Society of Miniature Painters.

In 1889 Collier married Mady's younger sister Ethel Huxley.<ref>{{cite magazine|title=Collier, Hon. John|magazine=Who's Who|year=1907|volume= 59|page=362|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yEcuAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA362}}</ref> Until the [[Deceased Wife's Sister's Marriage Act 1907]] such a marriage was not possible in England, so the ceremony took place in Norway. By his second wife he had a daughter and a son, Sir [[Laurence Collier]], who was the British ambassador to Norway 1941–1951.

==Subjects==
Collier's range of portrait subjects was broad. In 1893, for example, his subjects included [[Lovelace Stamer]], [[Anglican Bishop of Shrewsbury|Bishop of Shrewsbury]]; Sir [[John Lubbock, 1st Baron Avebury|John Lubbock]] FRS; A N Hornby (Captain of the Lancashire Eleven); [[Edward Augustus Inglefield]] (Admiral and Arctic explorer).
  
[[File:John Collier - Lady Godiva - c 1898 - Herbert Art Gallery and Museum.jpg|thumb|''[[Lady Godiva (painting)|Lady Godiva]] ''(1898) [[Herbert Art Gallery & Museum]]]]

[[File:CIRCE, John Collier 1885 - Ger Eenens Collection The Netherlands.jpg|thumb|''[[Circe (painting)|Circe]]'' (1885) the seductive enchantress from Homer's ''Odyssey'']]
His commissioned portrait of the [[Duke of York]] (later [[George V]]) as Master of [[Trinity House]] in 1901, and the [[Prince of Wales]] (later [[Edward VIII]]) were his major royal portraits. The latter work was hung in [[Durbar Hall]], [[Jodhpur]], [[Rajputana]].

Other subjects included two [[Lord Chancellor]]s (the [[Roundell Palmer, 1st Earl of Selborne|Earl of Selborne]] in 1882 and the [[Hardinge Giffard, 1st Earl of Halsbury|Earl of Halsbury]]) in 1897; The Speaker of the [[House of Commons of the United Kingdom|House of Commons]], [[William Gully, 1st Viscount Selby|William Gully]], (1897); senior legal figures the [[Lord Chief Justice]] [[Richard Everard Webster, 1st Viscount Alverstone|Lord Alverstone]] (1912) and the [[Master of the Rolls]] Sir [[George Jessel (jurist)|George Jessel]] (1881).<ref>Here and elsewhere, the source is Collier's notebook, in the archives of the National Portrait Gallery, London.</ref>

[[Image:Collier-Angela McInnes.jpg|thumb|left|''[[Angela Thirkell|Angela McInnes]]'' by Collier, 1914]]

[[Rudyard Kipling]] (1891); the painter Sir [[Lawrence Alma-Tadema]] (1884); the actors [[John Lawrence Toole|J.L. Toole]] (1887) and [[Madge Kendal]], [[Ellen Terry]] and [[Herbert Beerbohm Tree]] (in ''[[The Merry Wives of Windsor]]'') (1904); heads of educational institutions such as the Master of [[Balliol College, Oxford|Balliol]] [[Edward Caird]] (1904), the Warden of [[Wadham College, Oxford|Wadham]] G.E. Thorley (1889) and the Provost of [[Eton College|Eton]] (1897) were also subjects for Collier. His portraits also include those of soldiers such as Field Marshal [[Horatio Kitchener, 1st Earl Kitchener|Lord Kitchener of Khartoum]] (1911) and Field Marshal Sir Frederick Haines (1891); two Indian [[maharajah]]s, including the [[Maharajah]] of [[Nepal]] (1910); and scientists including [[Charles Darwin]] (1882), the artist's father-in-law [[Thomas Henry Huxley|Professor Huxley]] (1891), [[William Kingdom Clifford]], [[James Prescott Joule]] and Sir [[Michael Foster (physiologist)|Michael Foster]] (1907). Clark reports a total of thirty-two [[Huxley family]] portraits during the half-century after his first marriage.<ref>Clark R.W. 1968. ''The Huxleys''. p98</ref>

A photocopy of John Collier's ''Sitters Book'' (made in 1962 from the original in the possession of the artist's son) can be consulted in the Heinz Archive and Library, [[National Portrait Gallery, London|National Portrait Gallery]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=John Collier|url=https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/personextended?linkid=mp00970&tab=biography|access-date=2021-11-05|website=National Portrait Gallery}}</ref> This is the artist's own handwritten record of all his portraits, including name of subject, date, fee charged, and details of any major exhibitions of the picture in question.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2009-03-17|title=In search of John Collier|url=https://painterskeys.com/john-collier/|access-date=2021-11-05|website=The Painters Keys|language=en-US}}</ref>

==Posthumous reputation==
[[File:North House, 69 Eton Avenue, Belsize Park, July 2023.jpg|thumb|right|North House at 69 [[Eton Avenue]] in [[Belsize Park]]. Built for Collier in 1890 by [[Frederick S. Waller]].]]
[[File:Clytemnestra by John Collier, 1882.jpg|thumb|''[[Clytemnestra (Collier)|Clytemnestra after the Murder]]'' (1882)]]
[[Image:A Glass of Wine with Caesar Borgia - John Collier.jpg|thumb|250x250px|''A glass of wine with [[Caesar Borgia]]'' (1893)]]

Collier died in 1934.  His entry in the ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (volume for 1931–40, published 1949) compares his work to that of [[Frank Holl]] because of its solemnity. This is only true, however, of his many portraits of distinguished old men – his portraits of younger men, women and children, and his so-called "[[problem picture]]s", covering scenes of ordinary life, are often very bright and fresh.

His entry in the ''Dictionary of Art'' (1996 vol 7, p569), by [[Geoffrey Ashton]], refers to the invisibility of his brush strokes as a "rather unexciting and flat use of paint" but contrasts that with "Collier's strong and surprising sense of colour" which "created a disconcerting verisimilitude in both mood and appearance".

The ''Dictionary of Portrait Painters in Britain up to 1920'' (1997) describes his portraits as "painterly works with a fresh use of light and colour".

==Public collections==
Sixteen of John Collier's paintings are now in the collections of the [[National Portrait Gallery (London)|National Portrait Gallery]] in London, and two are in the [[Tate Gallery]]. Four of the National Portrait Gallery paintings were in December 1997 on display:  John Burns, Sir William Huggins, Thomas Huxley (the artist's father in law) and Charles Darwin (copies of the last two are also prominently displayed at the top of the staircase at the [[Athenaeum Club, London|Athenaeum Club]] in London).

A 1907 self-portrait has been preserved in the [[Uffizi]] in Florence which presumably commissioned it as part of its celebrated collection of artists' self-portraits.

Other pictures may be seen in houses and institutions open to the public: his ''[[Clytemnestra (Collier)|Clytemnestra]]'', a large and striking painting of the mythical figure, is in the [[Guildhall Art Gallery|Guildhall Gallery]] of the City of London. Another version, in which Clytemnestra has committed the murder and stands half-naked by the bath with a bloody sword is in the [[Worcester City Art Gallery & Museum]]. ''Sentence of Death'' was given by the widow of the artist to [[Wolverhampton Art Gallery]]. His portrait of the [[William Onslow, 4th Earl of Onslow|Earl of Onslow]] (1903), is at [[Clandon Park]], Surrey ([[National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty|National Trust]]). His full-length portrait of Sir [[Charles Tertius Mander]], first baronet, is at [[Owlpen Manor]], Gloucestershire, with another version in the collection of the National Trust at [[Wightwick Manor]], and his ''[[Lady Godiva (painting)|Lady Godiva]]'' is in the [[Herbert Art Gallery and Museum]]. ''A glass of wine with Caesar Borgia'' (1893) can be seen hanging in the atrium of Ipswich Town Hall.

Reproductions of many others, from various collections, may be consulted in the John Collier box in the National Portrait Gallery Heinz Archive and Library, and a good selection is published in ''The Art of the Honourable John Collier'' by W.H. Pollock (1914).  His work was also included in the Great Victorian Pictures exhibition mounted by the [[Arts Council of Great Britain|Arts Council]] in 1978 (catalogue, p27).

==Views on ethics and religion==
[[Image:Tannhäuser en el Venusberg, por John Collier.jpg|thumb|''[[In the Venusberg]]'' (1901)]]
[[File:Lilith (John Collier painting).jpg|thumb|''[[Lilith (painting)|Lilith]]'', (1887) now held at the [[Atkinson Art Gallery and Library|Atkinson Art Gallery]] in [[Southport]], Merseyside.]]
Collier's views on religion and ethics have been compared with the views of [[Thomas Henry Huxley|Thomas]] and [[Julian Huxley]], both of whom gave [[Romanes lecture]]s on that subject. Collier (1926)<ref name=Collier1926>{{cite book |last=Collier |first=J. |year=1926 |title=The Religion of an Artist |publisher=Watts |place=London, UK}}{{page needed|date=October 2020|reason=Direct quotes require page numbers and the edition# / printing cited.}}</ref> explains
: "It [the book ''The Religion of an Artist''] is mostly concerned with ethics apart from religion ... I am looking forward to a time when ethics will have taken the place of religion ... My religion is really negative. [The benefits of religion] can be attained by other means which are less conducive to strife and which put less strain upon the reasoning faculties."<ref name=Collier1926/>{{rp|page=&nbsp;?}}
On [[secular morality]]:
: "My standard is frankly [[utilitarian]]. As far as morality is intuitive, I think it may be reduced to an inherent impulse of kindliness towards our fellow citizens."<ref name=Collier1926/>{{rp|page=&nbsp;?}}
His views on ethics, then, were very close to the agnosticism of T.H. Huxley and the [[humanism]] of Julian Huxley.

On the idea of God:
: "People may claim without much exaggeration that the belief in God is universal. They omit to add that superstition, often of the most degraded kind, is just as universal."<ref name=Collier1926/>{{rp|page=&nbsp;?}}
And
: "An omnipotent Deity who sentences even the vilest of his creatures to eternal torture is infinitely more cruel than the cruellest man."<ref name=Collier1926/>{{rp|page=&nbsp;?}}
And on the Church:
: "To me, as to most Englishmen, the triumph of [[Roman Catholicism]] would mean an unspeakable disaster to the cause of [[civilization]]."<ref name=Collier1926/>{{rp|page=&nbsp;?}}
And on [[Nonconformist (Protestantism)|non-conformists]]:
: "They have a superstitious belief in the actual words of the Bible which is very dangerous".<ref name=Collier1926/>{{rp|page=&nbsp;?}}

==Publications==
* [https://archive.org/details/aprimerart00collgoog ''A primer of art'']
* [http://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/100578381 ''A Manual of Oil Painting''], 1886
* [http://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/008543041 ''The Art of Portrait Painting''], 1905
* ''The religion of an artist'', 1926

==Gallery==
<gallery>
File:John Collier - The Last Voyage of Henry Hudson - Google Art Project.jpg|''[[The Last Voyage of Henry Hudson]]'' (1881)
File:John Collier - Pharaohs Handmaidens.jpg|''[[The Pharaoh's Handmaidens]]'' (1883)
File:John Maler Collier - Cassandra.jpg|Cassandra (1885)
File:John Collier - Priestess of Delphi - Google Art Project.jpg|Priestess of Delphi (1891)
File:John Collier - In the Forest of Arden.jpg|In the Forest of Arden (or Touchstone and Audrey) (1892)
File:ALL HALLOWE'EN.PNG|All Hallowe'en (1895)
File:John Collier - Fire.jpg|Fire (c. 1900)
File:John Collier Queen Guinevre's Maying.jpg|''Queen Guinevre's Maying'' (1900)
File:John_Collier_-_Egg-Dance_(1903).jpg|Egg dance (1903)
File:John Collier - Eve, 1911.jpg|''[[Eve (Collier)|Eve]]'' (1911)
File:John Collier - Pomps and Vanities, 1917.jpg|''Pomps and Vanities'' (1917)
File:Portrait of George Bernard Shaw by John Collier, 1927.jpg|''Portrait of [[George Bernard Shaw]]'' (1927)
</gallery>

==See also==
* [[List of Pre-Raphaelite paintings]] – including the work of John Collier

==References==
{{reflist|25em}}

==External links==
*{{commons-inline}}
* {{Find a Grave|8879070}}
* [http://www.artrenewal.org/pages/artist.php?artistid=706 John Collier] at the [[Art Renewal Center]]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20080621213733/http://www.artmagick.com/pictures/artist.aspx?artist=hon-john-collier Collection of John Collier's pictures at ArtMagick.com]
*{{Art UK bio}}

{{John Collier}}
{{Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood|state=expanded}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Collier, John Maler}}
[[Category:1850 births]]
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[[Category:19th-century British painters]]
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[[Category:Academy of Fine Arts, Munich alumni]]
[[Category:Alumni of the Slade School of Fine Art]]
[[Category:British male painters]]
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[[Category:Collier family|John]]
[[Category:British critics of Christianity]]
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[[Category:Huxley family]]
[[Category:Officers of the Order of the British Empire]]
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