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William Nicoll Cresswell

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William Cresswell
Born
William Nicoll Cresswell

(1818-03-12)12 March 1818
Shoreditch, Middlesex, England
Died19 June 1888(1888-06-19)(aged 70)
Seaforth, Ontario
EducationPossibly studied with E. W. Cook, London, England
SpouseElizabeth R. Thompson
The homecoming,oil painting from 1864

William Nicoll CresswellRCA(12 March 1818 – 19 June 1888) (his middle name is also given as "Nichol" ) was anEnglishpainter who emigrated toCanadain 1848. He is best known for his landscape and marine paintings done in watercolour or oil in Canada.

Biography[edit]

William Nichol Cresswell was born inShoreditch,London.[1] After studies with several British painters (possibly E. W. Cook[2]andWilliam Clarkson Stanfield), he emigrated in 1848 toCanada West,where he settled with his family in Tuckersmith Township (laterSeaforth,Ontario) inHuron Countyon a remote farm.[3]In 1865, part of the family lot came into the possession of the artist and he ordered the bricks to build his house. The following year he married Elizabeth R. Thompson.[4]

Cresswell probably did little farming[4]because he was first and foremost a painter. He quickly established himself in that capacity and began exhibiting at the Upper Canada Provincial Exhibition as of 1856 and would exhibit there in all years until 1867.[5]He travelled extensively in Canada: toGeorgian Bayin 1865, throughQuébecandNew Hampshirein 1866, toLake Nipigonin northern Ontario in 1876, and in the 1880s he visited theMaritimesand spent some time on theGaspé Peninsula,and travelled toGrand MananinNew Brunswick.[6]

Cresswell continued to show his work at various exhibitions inUpper Canada.In 1874, he was elected a member of the Ontario Society of Artists,[7]and in 1880, he was a founding member of theRoyal Canadian Academy of Arts.[8]He also showed his work in London, England, in the Colonial and Indian Exhibition of 1886.[9]

In 1887, he fled the cold climate to southernCalifornia,where he spent the winter. He even planned to move there permanently, but died on 19 June 1888 of an inflammation of the lungs at the age of 70 at his home in Seaforth before consolidating these plans.[10]

Work and influences[edit]

The last of the brig,watercolour painting from 1880.

Cresswell's paintings are mostly landscape scenes in rural or even wilderness settings, animal scenes, or maritime topics showing primarily coastal scenes from theAtlantic.Especially in the latter, the influence of Stanfield—himself a noted painter of maritime scenery—has been noted by Harper. In time, the hard luminosity of his early paintings developed into a broader, more generalized handling.[11]LikeAlbert Bierstadt,he depicted a timeless wilderness in which light played a semi-religious role.[9]Daniel Fowleris the first artist in Canada with whom a friendship is recorded and Cresswell probably knew others such as Robert Whale.[12]In Canada, Cresswell began teaching the young Robert Ford Gagen in 1863, and thirteen years later also the then sixteen years oldGeorge Agnew Reid.[12]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^Fair 1986,p. 9.
  2. ^Staley, John E."Gagen, The Painter of the Sea".archive.macleans.ca.Maclean's, January 1, 1913.Retrieved12 January2021.
  3. ^Varley 1986,p. 15.
  4. ^abGagen 1986,p. 24.
  5. ^Varley 1986,p. 17.
  6. ^Varley 1986,p. 18-21.
  7. ^Varley 1986,p. 18.
  8. ^"Members since 1880".Royal Canadian Academy of Arts. Archived fromthe originalon 26 May 2011.Retrieved11 September2013.
  9. ^abVarley 1986,p. 21.
  10. ^Varley 1986,p. 22.
  11. ^Varley 1986,p. 20.
  12. ^abVarley 1986,p. 16.

References[edit]

Bibliography[edit]

External links[edit]

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