Robert Bateman (artist)
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Robert Bateman (1842–1922) was a British painter, architect and horticultural designer.
Life
He was the third son of James Bateman FRS (1811–1897), the accomplished horticulturist and landowner, who built Biddulph Grange and its gardens, in Staffordshire, and Maria Sybilla Egerton-Warburton.
Along with his elder brothers John and Rowland, Robert was educated at
Works
His key paintings are The Dead Knight (1870), also known as The Three Ravens, which was the title used when it was displayed in 1868,[2] The Pool of Bethesda (1877, exhibited at the Royal Academy 1878), The Raising of Samuel (exhibited at the Royal Academy 1880) and The Lily or the Rose (exhibited at the Royal Academy 1882).[1] Walter Crane, in his An Artist's Reminiscences (1907), described Bateman's painting as of... "a magic world of romance and pictured poetry, a twilight world of dark mysterious woodlands, haunted streams, meads of deep green starred with burning flowers, veiled in a dim and mystic light." [citation needed]
The Pool of Bethesda is at the
In addition to paintings, Bateman designed religious woodcuts, his work appearing in The Latin Year, The Church Service and A Century of Bibles.[1]
Robert practised as an architect, most notably building Collyers, a house near Petersfield.[1] He was also noted as a naturalist (corresponding with Charles Darwin), a botanical illustrator, sculptor, book illustrator, and an Italian scholar. He also left a horticultural legacy, in his planting of the gardens at Benthall Hall from 1890–1906 — much of his garden design there is still extant and is now maintained by the National Trust as part of Benthall Hall.
Family
Robert married the daughter of the Dean of
References
- Daly, Nigel, The Lost Pre-Raphaelite: The Secret Life & Loves of Robert Bateman (pub. Wilmington Square, 2014)