John Charlton (artist)
Encyclopedia
Early life
Born to Samuel Charlton and his wife Mary Ann (née Pickering) Charlton on 28 June 1849, in BamburghBamburgh
Bamburgh is a large village and civil parish on the coast of Northumberland, England. It has a population of 454.It is notable for two reasons: the imposing Bamburgh Castle, overlooking the beach, seat of the former Kings of Northumbria, and at present owned by the Armstrong family ; and its...
, Northumberland
Northumberland
Northumberland is the northernmost ceremonial county and a unitary district in North East England. For Eurostat purposes Northumberland is a NUTS 3 region and is one of three boroughs or unitary districts that comprise the "Northumberland and Tyne and Wear" NUTS 2 region...
, he received his first lessons in drawing from his father when he was only three or four years old, and within a few years was drawing horses with some skill. Due to his family’s financial misfortunes, he had to attend Dr. Sharp’s charity school held in Bamburgh
Bamburgh Castle
Bamburgh Castle is an imposing castle located on the coast at Bamburgh in Northumberland, England. It is a Grade I listed building.-History:...
’s great castle, and a few years later, was forced to quit and find employment. A job in the Newcastle
Newcastle upon Tyne
Newcastle upon Tyne is a city and metropolitan borough of Tyne and Wear, in North East England. Historically a part of Northumberland, it is situated on the north bank of the River Tyne...
bookshop of Mr. Robinson, a keen collector of the work of Thomas Berwick
Thomas Berwick
Thomas Berwick was a convict transported to Western Australia. He was one of only 37 such convicts from the 9721 convicts transported to the colony to overcome the social stigma of convictism to become schoolteachers....
, “the father of Wood engraving,” gave him an appreciation of graphic art. It was here that the budding artist began to imitate the master’s work, much to the delight of two of Berwick’s aging sisters. Later he spent seven monotonous years employed in the office of Sir Isaac Bell’s ironworks, but seeing the young man’s skill at draughtsmanship, his employers regularly granted him one day a week in which to practice his art. Mr. Joseph Crawhill suggested that he attend evening classes at the Newcastle School of Arts under William Bell Scott. During this time he began to develop quite a reputation on Tyneside as a painter of horses and dogs, and he received some commissions to portray family pets.
He debuted at the Royal Academy
Royal Academy
The Royal Academy of Arts is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly, London. The Royal Academy of Arts has a unique position in being an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects whose purpose is to promote the creation, enjoyment and...
in 1870, and his first painting with a military theme, Exercising artillery horses on a frosty morning, appeared three years later. Realising that his best prospects for advancement lay in the London art world, he ventured south in 1874 and took classes at the South Kensington Museum, now the Victoria and Albert Museum, under J. D. Watson.While he settled in the capital, he never forgot his northern roots, maintaining a house at 24 Windsor Terrace, Newcastle, and at one time lived at Cullercoats
Cullercoats
Cullercoats is an urban area of north east England, with a population 9,407 in 2004. It has now been absorbed into the North Tyneside conurbation, sitting between Tynemouth and Whitley Bay. There is a semi-circular sandy beach with cliffs and caves, and the village is a popular destination for...
, while his final years were spent at Lanercost
Lanercost
Lanercost is a village in the northern part of Cumbria, England. The settlement is in the civil parish of Burtholme, in the City of Carlisle local government district. Lanercost is known for the presence of Lanercost Priory and its proximity to Hadrian's Wall.-History:Lanercost Priory was founded...
in Cumbria
Cumbria
Cumbria , is a non-metropolitan county in North West England. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local authority, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. Cumbria's largest settlement and county town is Carlisle. It consists of six districts, and in...
.
The late 1870s and 1880s were a very busy time for British and colonial forces as they tried to consolidate colonial hold over possessions in northern and southern Africa. Many of the illustrations appearing in The Graphic
The Graphic
The Graphic was a British weekly illustrated newspaper, first published on 4 December 1869 by William Luson Thomas's company Illustrated Newspapers Limited....
depicting these events came from the hand of Charlton, especially during the Egyptian campaign of 1882, when he had to draw-up many of the eye-witness sketches posted to the paper by its ‘special artists’ as well as soldiers. It was also during 1882 that he married Kate, daughter of Thomas Vaughan, J.P. of Ugthorp Lodge, Cleveland.
Military Paintings
Exposed to the wealth of military illustration he decided to try his hand at creating a large painting on canvas using a war theme, and in 1883 exhibited British artillery entering the enemy’s lines at Tel-el-Kebir, 13 September 1882. It was well received, one writer asking, "who can look unmoved upon his vigorous and vividly realistic rendering." Spurred on by the success of this work which "opened up for him a field in which he could find freer scope for his artistic sense of vivid movement and powerful action in both horse and figure-painting, and exercise for his keen imagination," he chose another military scene for his 1887 academy piece. Based on a sketch by Surgeon N. C. Ross of the Royal MarinesRoyal Marines
The Corps of Her Majesty's Royal Marines, commonly just referred to as the Royal Marines , are the marine corps and amphibious infantry of the United Kingdom and, along with the Royal Navy and Royal Fleet Auxiliary, form the Naval Service...
, Bad news from the front represented the first news of the disaster to General McNeill’s column during the Suakim campaign of 1885: "A number of horses of the Bengal Lancers having broken through the zeriba [thorn-bush stockade] in confusion, galloped back to headquarters, and created much excitement and alarm, it being conjectured that some terrible disaster had befalled the advance column." He returned to the Sudan campaign for his 1893 piece, Placing the Guns, the same year his wife died leaving him to look after their two young sons.
For his next military subject, Charlton turned once again to men and horses in battle with a theme from the Zulu War: After the charge: 17th Lancers
17th Lancers
The 17th Lancers was a cavalry regiment of the British Army, notable for its participation in the Charge of the Light Brigade in the Crimean War...
, Ulundi
Battle of Ulundi
The Battle of Ulundi took place at the Zulu capital of Ulundi on 4 July 1879 and was the last major battle of the Anglo-Zulu War. The British army finally broke the military power of the Zulu nation by defeating the main Zulu army and immediately afterwards capturing and razing the capital of...
, July 4, 1879, which was shown at Burlington House in 1888. The regiment was to figure again later in the artist’s work. Some years previously, he had painted a portrait of Lord Tredegar who had led the lancers out of the fateful charge at Balaklava
Balaklava
Balaklava is a former city on the Crimean peninsula and part of the city of Sevastopol which carries a special administrative status in Ukraine. It was a city in its own right until 1957 when it was formally incorporated into the municipal borders of Sevastopol by the Soviet government...
on 25 October 1854, and no doubt inspired by hearing the nobleman’s account during the sittings as well as reading Kinglake
Alexander William Kinglake
Alexander William Kinglake was an English travel writer and historian.He was born near Taunton, Somerset and educated at Eton College and Trinity College, Cambridge...
’s history of the Crimean War
Crimean War
The Crimean War was a conflict fought between the Russian Empire and an alliance of the French Empire, the British Empire, the Ottoman Empire, and the Kingdom of Sardinia. The war was part of a long-running contest between the major European powers for influence over territories of the declining...
, Charlton exhibited several paintings of the charge. An Incident in the charge of the Light Brigade was shown at the academy in 1889, while in 1897 came Comrades, showing just two figures, a trooper of the 17th Lancers
17th Lancers
The 17th Lancers was a cavalry regiment of the British Army, notable for its participation in the Charge of the Light Brigade in the Crimean War...
lying dead on the field while his horse rears in agony having been hit by a bullet. Tredegar also supplied the sketch for the artist’s 1905 picture, Balaclava: The Charge of the Light Brigade
The charge of the light brigade
The Charge of the Light Brigade may refer to the following:* Charge of the Light Brigade, a military action in the Crimean War* The Charge of the Light Brigade, a poem by Alfred, Lord Tennyson* The Charge of the Light Brigade, a 1936 film...
showing the 17th Lancers crashing into the Russian guns, that was reproduced as the Christmas Supplement to The Graphic
The Graphic
The Graphic was a British weekly illustrated newspaper, first published on 4 December 1869 by William Luson Thomas's company Illustrated Newspapers Limited....
.
Charlton occasionally turned to wars from earlier periods or foreign wars not involving Britain, such as After the battle: Sedan, based on an incident in the Franco-Prussian War
Franco-Prussian War
The Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War, often referred to in France as the 1870 War was a conflict between the Second French Empire and the Kingdom of Prussia. Prussia was aided by the North German Confederation, of which it was a member, and the South German states of Baden, Württemberg and...
of 1870 described by Émile François Zola in La Debâcle. In this piece, Charlton chose one of his favourite themes, that of riderless horses after a battle, in this case in a mad gallop "across the blank, silent country." Scenes from the Peninsular War
Peninsular War
The Peninsular War was a war between France and the allied powers of Spain, the United Kingdom, and Portugal for control of the Iberian Peninsula during the Napoleonic Wars. The war began when French and Spanish armies crossed Spain and invaded Portugal in 1807. Then, in 1808, France turned on its...
and the English Civil War
English Civil War
The English Civil War was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians and Royalists...
followed, while his painting of Prussian General Seidlitz
Friedrich Wilhelm von Seydlitz
Friedrich Wilhelm Freiherr von Seydlitz was a Prussian soldier and one of the greatest German cavalry generals.-Early life:...
at the Battle of Rossbach
Battle of Rossbach
The Battle of Rossbach took place during the Seven Years' War near the village of Roßbach, in the Electorate of Saxony. Frederick the Great defeated the allied armies of France and the Holy Roman/Austrian Empire...
in 1757 was shown at the Berlin Art Gallery in April 1914. It attracted the attention of a wealthy German who offered to buy the piece, but before the sale could be finalized, war broke out and the picture was ‘interned’ in Germany.
World War One
The Great War brought the pain and suffering of soldiers in battle directly home to Charlton. While he did attempt to record the early days of the war in two canvases painted in 1915 that now hang in Laing Art GalleryLaing Art Gallery
The Laing Art Gallery in Newcastle upon Tyne, England is located on New Bridge Street. It was opened in 1904 and is now managed by Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums and sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. In front of the gallery is the Blue Carpet.The gallery holds oil paintings,...
, and at Gateshead
Gateshead
Gateshead is a town in Tyne and Wear, England and is the main settlement in the Metropolitan Borough of Gateshead. Historically a part of County Durham, it lies on the southern bank of the River Tyne opposite Newcastle upon Tyne and together they form the urban core of Tyneside...
Art Gallery, nothing prepared him for the tragedy that hit hard in 1916. On 24 June, his eldest son, Lieutenant High Vaughan Charlton of the 7th Northumberland Fusiliers, was killed on the Western Front aged 32. Seven days later, his youngest son, Captain John Macfarlane Charlton, serving in the 21st Northumberland Fusiliers (2nd Tyneside Scottish), a keen ornithologist and author, was killed in action on the first day of the Somme, his 21st birthday. In a poignant canvas, now lost, the two bright young men sit with their grandmother; while in another painting by their father entitled The Brothers H.V.C. and J.M.C., Sandisdyke, two handsome and promising young men with their three dogs look up to the viewer. Heartbroken, the artist painted a posthumous portrait of John that was exhibited in the spring of 1917 alongside Sunset: Cumberland, 28th Sept. 1916.
Death and Assessment
The shock of the loss of his two sons on the Western Front was too much to bear and on November 10, 1917, while the war still raged, Charlton died after a brief illness at Banks House, LanercostLanercost
Lanercost is a village in the northern part of Cumbria, England. The settlement is in the civil parish of Burtholme, in the City of Carlisle local government district. Lanercost is known for the presence of Lanercost Priory and its proximity to Hadrian's Wall.-History:Lanercost Priory was founded...
at the age of 68. "He felt the loss of his two suns profoundly," read his obituary in The Graphic
The Graphic
The Graphic was a British weekly illustrated newspaper, first published on 4 December 1869 by William Luson Thomas's company Illustrated Newspapers Limited....
. On the wall of St. Mary Magdalene, Lanercost
Lanercost
Lanercost is a village in the northern part of Cumbria, England. The settlement is in the civil parish of Burtholme, in the City of Carlisle local government district. Lanercost is known for the presence of Lanercost Priory and its proximity to Hadrian's Wall.-History:Lanercost Priory was founded...
Priory, are memorials to the artist and his two sons. During his career, Charlton never gained much attention beyond his picture of the Diamond Jubilee. He created numerous illustrations for The Graphic
The Graphic
The Graphic was a British weekly illustrated newspaper, first published on 4 December 1869 by William Luson Thomas's company Illustrated Newspapers Limited....
but his oil paintings of military and battle scenes were rarely mentioned in the reviews. And his paintings of the Great War were criticised as being anachronistic and better suited to the previous century. Nonetheless, his paintings are dramatic and well-executed with careful attention to detail, and he certainly ranks among his contemporaries, Richard Caton Woodville
Richard Caton Woodville
Richard Caton Woodville was an English artist and illustrator, who is best known for being one of the most prolific and effective painters of battle scenes in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.-Biography:...
, James Princip Beadle and William Barnes Wollen
William Barnes Wollen
William Barnes Wollen was an English painter mostly known for his paintings of battle and historical scenes and sporting events.-Career:...
as one of Britain's preeminent 'battle' painters of the late Victorian period.
Paintings
- After the Charge: 17th Lancers17th LancersThe 17th Lancers was a cavalry regiment of the British Army, notable for its participation in the Charge of the Light Brigade in the Crimean War...
, UlundiBattle of UlundiThe Battle of Ulundi took place at the Zulu capital of Ulundi on 4 July 1879 and was the last major battle of the Anglo-Zulu War. The British army finally broke the military power of the Zulu nation by defeating the main Zulu army and immediately afterwards capturing and razing the capital of...
, July 4, 1879 (1883 - Queen's Royal Lancers) - British Artillery entering the Enemy's Lines at Telel-Kebir, 13 September 1882 (1883 - Nottingham Art Gallery & Museum)
- Incident in the Charge of the Light BrigadeCharge of the Light BrigadeThe Charge of the Light Brigade was a charge of British cavalry led by Lord Cardigan against Russian forces during the Battle of Balaclava on 25 October 1854 in the Crimean War. The charge was the result of a miscommunication in such a way that the brigade attempted a much more difficult objective...
, BalaclavaBattle of BalaclavaThe Battle of Balaclava, fought on 25 October 1854 during the Crimean War, was part of the Anglo-French-Turkish campaign to capture the port and fortress of Sevastopol, Russia's principal naval base on the Black Sea...
, 25 October 1854 (1889 - Blackburn Art Gallery and Museum) - Advance on KimberleySiege of KimberleyThe Siege of Kimberley took place during the Second Boer War at Kimberley, Cape Colony , when Boer forces from the Orange Free State and the Transvaal besieged the diamond mining town. The Boers moved quickly to try to capture the British enclave when war broke out between the British and the two...
: The 16th and 17th Lancers17th LancersThe 17th Lancers was a cavalry regiment of the British Army, notable for its participation in the Charge of the Light Brigade in the Crimean War...
at Klip Drift (1908 - Naval and Military Club, London) - The Fifth Dragoon Guards5th Dragoon GuardsThe 5th Dragoon Guards was a cavalry regiment in the British Army, first raised in 1685. It saw service for three centuries, before being amalgamated into the 5th Royal Inniskilling Dragoon Guards in 1922....
at ElandslaagteBattle of ElandslaagteThe Battle of Elandslaagte was a battle of the Second Boer War, and one of the few clear-cut tactical victories won by the British during that conflict...
, South Africa (1913 - Royal Dragoon GuardsRoyal Dragoon GuardsThe Royal Dragoon Guards is a cavalry regiment of the British Army. It was formed in 1992 by the amalgamation of two other regiments: The 4th/7th Royal Dragoon Guards and the 5th Royal Inniskilling Dragoon Guards...
) - French Artillery crossing the flooded Aisne (1915 - Laing Art GalleryLaing Art GalleryThe Laing Art Gallery in Newcastle upon Tyne, England is located on New Bridge Street. It was opened in 1904 and is now managed by Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums and sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. In front of the gallery is the Blue Carpet.The gallery holds oil paintings,...
, Newcastle upon TyneNewcastle upon TyneNewcastle upon Tyne is a city and metropolitan borough of Tyne and Wear, in North East England. Historically a part of Northumberland, it is situated on the north bank of the River Tyne...
) - Retreat from the (1915 - Shipley Art Gallery, GatesheadGatesheadGateshead is a town in Tyne and Wear, England and is the main settlement in the Metropolitan Borough of Gateshead. Historically a part of County Durham, it lies on the southern bank of the River Tyne opposite Newcastle upon Tyne and together they form the urban core of Tyneside...
)
Further reading
- Catalogue of the Loan Exhibition of Works by John Charlton. Newcastle-upon-Tyne: Laing Art Gallery and Museum, 1917.
- Catalogue of the Remaining Works of the late John Charlton, R.O.I. London: Christie, Manson & Woods, 1918.
- Harrington, Peter (1993). British Artists and War: The Face of Battle in Paintings and Prints, 1700-1914. London: Greenhill.
- Harrington, Peter, "Painting the Empire," Military Illustrated, No. 101, October 1996, pp. 12–13.
- Harrington, Peter, "Creating images from far-flung battlefields," The Northumbrian, No. 101, Dec. 2007-Jan. 2008, pp. 37–39.
- Harris, R.G., "Queen Victoria's Indian Escort, June 1897," Journal of the Society for Army Historical Research, Vol. LXXIV, Summer 1996, pp. 73–75.
- Miller, Fred, "Studies by John Charlton, Painter of the Queen's Diamnond Jubilee Picture, Royal Academy, 1899," The Artist, 1899, pp. 57–67.
- Walton, John de, "John Charlton and his work," Cassell's Magazine, November 1906, pp. 619–629.