William Mulready

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William Mulready (April 1 1786 – July 7, 1863) was an Irish genre painter living in London. He is best known for his romanticizing depictions of rural scenes.

William Mulready was born in Ennis, County Clare. Early in his life, in 1792, the family moved to London, where he was able to get an education and was taught painting well enough so that he was accepted at the Royal Academy School at the age of fourteen.

Many of his early pictures show landscapes, before he started to build a reputation as a genre painter from 1808 on, painting mostly everyday scenes from rural life. Besides this, he also illustrated books, including the first edition of Charles and Mary Lamb's Tales from Shakespeare in 1807. [cite book | last = Lamb | first = Charles | title = Tales from Shakespear designed for the use of young persons | publisher = Thomas Hodgkins | date = 1807 | location = London | pages = | url = http://books.google.com/books?id=FSwJAAAAQAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=Tales+from+Shakespear+designed+for+the+use+of+young+persons&as_brr=3&ei=CfPoSMamLIH-sQPuq4DvBg ] His paintings were very popular in Victorian times. His first painting of importance, "Returning from the Ale House", now in the Tate Gallery, London, under the title "Fair Time", appeared in 1809.

In 1815 he was elected a member of the Royal Academy. In the same year, he also was awarded the French "Légion d'honneur". Mulready's most important pictures are in the Victoria and Albert Museum and in the Tate Gallery. In the former are 33, among them "Hampstead Heath" (1806); "Giving a Bite" (1836); "First Love" (1839); "The Sonnet" (1839); "Choosing the Wedding Gown" (1846); and "The Butt" ("Shooting a Cherry") (1848). In the latter are five, including a "Snow Scene". In the National Gallery, Dublin, are "Young Brother" and "The Toy Seller". His "Wolf and the Lamb" is in royal possession.

His relationship with his wife, Elizabeth Mulready deteriorated gradually over the years, which is detailed in papers stored at the library of the Victoria and Albert Museum. His strong Catholic beliefs prevented any chance of a divorce but they separated. He accused her of "bad conduct" but shied from providing details. In a letter to him in 1828 or 1830, she blamed him entirely for the collapse of their marriage, suggesting cruelty, homosexual behavior and adultery were the reasons. [cite book | last = Robinson | first = Leonard | title = William Etty; The Life and Art | publisher = McFarland | date = 2007 | location = Jefferson, N.C. | pages = p. 354 | url = http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&id=r7F7iYMo3yYC&dq=The+Life+and+Art+of+Leonard+Robinson&printsec=frontcover&source=web&ots=v5vRd1jlkQ&sig=7OmbZui4up-ZgLPqgda3WmvAW5c&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=4&ct=result#PPA354,M1 | isbn = 0786425318 ]

In 1840, Mulready designed the illustrations for the postal stationery, known as Mulready stationery were introduced at the same time as the Penny Black in May 1840, They were issued in two forms; one variant was precut to a diamond or lozenge shape and folded to form an envelope that could be held together by seal at the apex of the topmost flap; and lettersheets that were cut in rectangles, folded over and sealed or tucked in.

He died at the age of 77 in Bayswater, London and is [http://www.xs4all.nl/~androom/biography/i000004.htm buried] in the nearby Kensal Green Cemetery where a monument to his memory was erected.

See also

* Letter sheet
* List of people on stamps of Ireland
* Mulready stationery

References

Publications

* Stephens, "Memorials of Mulready" (London, 1867)

External links

* [http://cgfa.sunsite.dk/m/m-25.htm#mulready William Mulready]

Artistic

* [http://www.clarelibrary.ie/eolas/coclare/people/mulready.htm County Clare Library] Famous Artist Born in Ennis
* [http://www.english.emory.edu/classes/Shakespeare_Illustrated/Mulready.Ages.html Emory University's Shakespeare Illustrated] Mulready's " Seven Ages of Man"
* [http://www.npg.org.uk/live/search/person.asp?LinkID=mp03215 National Portrait Gallery, London] Portraits of, and by, William Mulready
* [http://www.tate.org.uk/servlet/ArtistWorks?cgroupid=999999961&artistid=392&page=1 Tate Collection, UK] Works by William Mulready

Philatelic

* [http://imagesoftheworld.org/stamps/1d-mulready.htm 1d Mulready Letter Sheet]
* [http://imagesoftheworld.org/stamps/2d-mulready.htm 2d Mulready Letter Sheet]
* [http://alphabetilately.com/M.html Mulready Stationery] Envelopes, Letter Sheets, Parodies and Exhibit Pages
* [http://www.postalmuseum.si.edu/queen's/mulreadystationery.html National Postal Museum, Washington, D.C.] Stamps That Changed the World

Other

* [http://www.london-walks.co.uk/36/london-surrounding-walks-.shtml Kensal Green Cemetery Tour] Find the Mulready Tomb