THOMAS ERAT HARRISON (1858 - 1917)

 
 
DANAÉ & THE INFANT PERSEUS DISCOVERED BY THE FISHERMAN DICTYS
 
 
Brush & wash with gouache, with faint pencil outlines
40.5 x 24 cm | 64.8 x 45.7 (Framed)
 
 
 
 
PROVENANCE
With the Grosvenor Gallery, London (by 1879)
Private collection, U.K.
 
 
&
 
 
THESUS & THE MINOTAUR
 
 
Brush & wash with gouache, with faint pencil outlines
27 x 35.5 cm | 45.7 x 55.9 cm (Framed)
 
 
 
PROVENANCE
With the Grosvenor Gallery, London (by 1879)
Alistair Matthews (1907-1985), London;
Private collection, U.K.
 
 
(Both) EXHIBITED
London, Grosvenor Gallery, Winter Exhibition 1879-1880
 
(Both) LITERATURE
T.E. Harrison, Six Greek Myths, London (1879), pls. VIII & VI (respectively)
 
 
 
 
 
 
The present two works are from a series of six Greek mythological subjects which Harrison exhibited at the Grosvenor Gallery in 1879. They were published as heliogravures by Harrison & Sons to illustrate a volume retelling six of the greatest classical Hellenic tales, with text from Charles Kingsley's Heroes. The scenes depicted were Hera and Jason; Stheno and Euryale; Dictys, Danae, and Perseus; the Sirens; Theseus and Sinis; and Theseus and the Minotaur. 
 
The book, Six Greek Myths, was dedicated to Sir William Blake Richmond, R.A., perhaps a friend of Harrison's through his work with stained-glass design. It was published in a very small edition, but its subscription list is a testament to Harrison’s reputation among his fellow artists, with names including Lord Leighton, G.F. Watts, Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema, Edward Burne Jones and Walter Crane.
 
 
 
Harrison was born the son of a builder in St John's Wood, and began his artistic career as more of a decorative artist than a painter; indeed, he does not seem to have undergone a formal education for the latter. He was an early member of the Art Workers' Guild, a group traditionally associated with artisan craftsmen and decorative artists that had been established in 1884 and was strongly influenced by the ideals of William Morris. Today, Harrison's work can be found in various public collections: the University of Texas holds his designs for twelve stained glass windows on the theme of the Seasons in Spenser's ‘The Faerie Queen’, at Betteshanger House (the home of Walter Henry James, Baron Northbourne). Harrison also designed bookplates, including one for the same Lord Northbourne, and he published a book on decorative arts titled Some terms commonly used in ornamental design (London, 1906).