James Collinson

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

The Holy Family by James Collinson, 1878

James Collinson (9 May 1825 – 24 January 1881) was a Victorian painter who was a member of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood from 1848 to 1850.

Life

He was born at

Holman Hunt, and Dante Gabriel Rossetti.[1]

Collinson was a devout Christian who was attracted to the devotional and high church aspects of Pre-Raphaelitism. A convert to

Catholicism, Collinson reverted to high Anglicanism in order to marry Christina Rossetti
, but his conscience forced his return to Catholicism and the ending of the engagement. This had a profound aspect on Rossetti's work, Collinson's departure influencing a great many of her poems. When , Collinson resigned from the Brotherhood in the belief that it was bringing the Christian religion into disrepute.

During his period as a Pre-Raphaelite, Collinson contributed a long devotional poem to The Germ and produced a number of religious works, most importantly The Renunciation of St. Elizabeth of Hungary (1850). After his resignation Collinson trained for the priesthood at a

Jesuit
college, but did not complete his studies.

In 1858, he married Eliza Wheeler, one of the sisters-in-law of the painter John Rogers Herbert, an early influence on the Pre-Raphaelites. Returning to his artistic career he painted a number of secular genre paintings, the best-known of which are To Let and For Sale, both of which lightheartedly depict pretty women in situations that suggest moral temptation.

He was secretary of the

Society of British Artists
from 1861 to 1870. In the latter part of his life he lived in Brittany, where he painted The Holy Family (1878). He died in April 1881.[1]

Gallery

  • The Sisters (c. 1860)
    The Sisters (c. 1860)
  • The Empty Purse (1857)
    The Empty Purse (1857)
  • Mother and Child by a Stile, with Culver Cliff, Isle of Wight, in the Distance (1849)
    Mother and Child by a Stile, with Culver Cliff, Isle of Wight, in the Distance (1849)
  • The Renunciation of St. Elizabeth of Hungary (1850)
    The Renunciation of St. Elizabeth of Hungary (1850)
  • Too Hot, print after Collinson, from Illustrated London News (February 28, 1863).
    Too Hot, print after Collinson, from Illustrated London News (February 28, 1863).

See also

References

Attribution
  •  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domainCust, Lionel Henry (1887). "Collinson, James". In Stephen, Leslie (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 11. London: Smith, Elder & Co. pp. 381–382.

External links

Media related to James Collinson at Wikimedia Commons