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Frederick Morgan was born in
London, England in 1847. His father John
Morgan (1823-1886) was a genre artist who
received his training in Paris France under
the French painter and teacher
Thomas Couture
(1815-1879). Frederick Morgan was known as “Jury
Morgan,” after the success of one of his
pictures entitled The Gentlemen of the Jury,
and was a member of the Society of British
Artists, as well as a regular exhibiter at
the Royal Academy. (Oldcastle, pg. 4) As
John Morgan firmly believed in the
importance of learning art at a young age,
Frederick Morgan took his son Fred (as
he was called) out
of school when he was fourteen years old to
begin his art instruction with him.
Young Fred began his art training with his
father and took some art lessons in
Edinburgh. However, it was his father that
greatly influenced his artistic career, as
Frederick Morgan said “He taught me how to make a
picture.” (Oldcastle, p. 5) At age sixteen,
Fred sent a painting entitled The Rehearsal
to the Royal Academy, which depicted two old
musicians practicing for the village choir.
Much to his astonishment, it was accepted
and was “hung in one of the small rooms on
the wall, near the ground,” and was
purchased by a collector at the Private
View, for £20. (Oldcastle, pg. 8) After this
initial success, Fred did not progress as
Frederick Morgan should have because “perhaps, being the only
boy in the town of Aylesbury following the profession, thus lacking emulation,
and also not being very robust in health, I seemed to lose heart.” (Oldcastle,
pg. 8) Three years later, his father informed him that Frederick Morgan was not
qualified to become a painter and that he should look for another occupation. To
that end, Fred’s father gave him five pounds and sent him to London, where
Frederick Morgan unsuccessfully searched for various jobs in warehouses or
offices. He then returned home and decided with his family to once more try to
become a successful artist.
Fred worked for three years as a portrait
artist in Aylesbury and was engaged by a
photographic firm to paint family portraits
for those clients who were not satisfied
with photographs only. After showing samples
of Frederick Morgan painting to other photographic firms in
London, he received numerous portrait
commissions and was thus able to make a
sufficient income. The years that Frederick
Morgan spent
working for the photographers proved to be a
good training for Fred, as it “taught him
how to observe closely and to give the
greatest attention to detail.” (Oldcastle,
pg. 15) In addition to portraits, Frederick
Morgan painted
other subjects that included rustic
idealized peasants and domestic genre mostly
of happy childhood scenes. Starting 1874 Messers Agnew and Sons purchased all his
work for a number of years. During this
period Frederick Morgan produced many of successful
Frederick Morgan paintings such as The Doll’s Tea Party
(1874), Emigrants Departure (1875), School
Belles (1877), which were mostly painted in
the village of Shere close to Guildford, a
favorite artists’ retreat. Later, Frederick
Morgan produced other oil paintings in Normandy, which
included Midday Rest (1879) and An Apple
Gathering (1880).
Fred’s popularity increased, as did the
demand for Frederick Morgan paintings of children scenes.
Although he was an excellent child
portraitist, he “had a problem painting
animals,” as noted by Terry Parker in Golden
Hours, The Paintings of Arthur J. Elsley,
1860-1952 (Somerset, England: R. Dennis,
1998, pg. 9) As a result, Frederick Morgan cooperated with
other artists for his images that depicted
children with their pets. Among them were
the artist Allen Sealey (1850-1927) who
specialized in canine portraits, and the
genre artist
Arthur J. Elsley (1860- 1952).
The latter took on that role when Frederick
Morgan moved
into Fred’s studio at 7 North Bank, St,
John’s Wood in 1889. Together they produced
Ruff Play (c. 1889, once owned by Rehs
Galleries), in which Fred painted the little
girl and Elsley painted the two terriers,
among several other images. |
Toperfect Group