WILLIAM E.F. BRITTEN (1848 - 1916)

 
 
THE EMBRACE
 
 
Signed & dated l.l. W.E.F. Britten / 1899
Pastels on paper
26 x 21.5 cm
 
 
PROVENANCE
Private collection, U.K.
 
 
 
 
 
 
William Britten was born in Lambeth, London, and entered the Royal Academy on probation in 1866, becoming a full student at the beginning of the following year. He began to exhibit at the Royal Society of British Artists (R.B.A.) in 1873, thereafter becoming well-known as both an illustrator and painter. His most important public commission was for the design of six of the eight spandrels under the dome of St Paul’s Cathedral, where he painted several of the prophets (after Alfred Stevens, the original artist responsible, had died unexpectedly). 
 
 
Britten spent the majority of his career working in London and contributing illustrations to a number of popular magazines and books. The latter included a volume of Swinburne’s poems (‘Carols of the Year’, 1893) and an edition of Tennyson’s early poems (London, 1904). He also holds the distinction of having illustrated the very last poem by Christian Rossetti to be published before her death. 
 
 
Britten’s work was well-received by contemporary critics, and he was admired by (among others) Lord Leighton, who even recommended him as a portraitist on at least one occasion. His style tended towards the Pre-Raphaelite and late-Victorian Academic, with the present work suggesting the strong influence of George Frederic Watts. 
 
 
By the end of his life, Britten was working at the Glasgow School of Art, where he was a professor instructing students in figure and landscape composition. One further important legacy of Britten’s came in the form of the house he commissioned from the distinguished architect and designer Charles Voysey (1857-1941): Voysey’s studio for Britten, at 17 St Dunstan’s Road in Barons Court. The house was built between 1891-92, and later featured in The Studio of 1897. It is considered the first and finest of Voysey’s Arts & Crafts buildings, and stands to this day.