Artist Henry Wallis and the affair that caused a Victorian scandal – Inside Croydon

Chatterton’s Death: one of Henry Wallis’ best known works, now at the Tate Gallery

SUNDAY SUPPLEMENT: A prominent artist who scandalized Victorian society when he had an affair with a married woman and later worked as an Egyptologist and early pottery collector for the V&A has long been overlooked in Croydon, where he lived and died. But DAVID MORGAN, right, followed the life and works of Henry Wallis

On December 20, 1916, at a house at 1, Walpole Road, Croydon, an 86-year-old frail and nearly blind man died.

The house where the old man lived out his last days has long since been demolished, but his legacy lives on. Remembered in the world of art and ceramics, as well as by Egyptologists, Henry Wallis spent many years living in and around Croydon. Wallis’s is another name to add to the multitude of artists associated with Croydon, including George Handel Lucas, James Sant, John Schetky, Joseph Nash, Theodore Fielding and George Paice.

Wallis lived in Woodbury Cottage, Norwood, from 1880 to 1895, and lived in Beauchamp Road, Crystal Palace, from 1895 to 1907. This was followed by a move to Sutton, before finally moving to Walpole Road .

Wallis was born in London on February 21, 1830 in difficult circumstances for that era: his father’s name and occupation are unknown. When, in 1845, his mother, Mary Anne Thomas, married Andrew Wallis, a prosperous London architect, Henry took his stepfather’s surname.

Portrait of the artist as an old man: Henry Wallis, resident of Croydon

Wallis showed in his youth that he was a talented artist. When he was 18, he was admitted as a resident of the Royal Academy, enrolling in their School of Painting in March 1848. He lived for a time in Paris to further develop his artistic skills, studying in the studio of Charles Gleyre and the world-famous and influential Academie des Beaux Arts.

Today, however, Wallis’ recognition and reputation in the art world has largely been reduced to two paintings.

Death of Chatterton, which Wallis first exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1856, is today the Tate Gallery. It was a superbly constructed painting that the critic John Ruskin described as “flawless and wonderful”. Vibrant colors and attention to symbolic detail cemented Wallis’ place in the Pre-Raphaelite movement.

The painting was an instant hit with the public, despite its macabre theme. Chatterton was a student who poisoned himself in desperation. Although Chatterton was made out to be something of a romantic hero, he was actually a fraud who produced a series of mock medieval writings, claiming them to be the work of a 15th-century writer named Thomas Rowley.

The model Wallis used when sketching the scene for the painting was the novelist, George Meredith. It turned out to be a significant choice in more ways than one. Meredith’s picture proved to be a real talking point when the painting was completed.

Scandalized: Mary Meredith ran off with Wallis, but it didn’t end well

During this time, Wallis was introduced to Meredith’s wife, Mary. She was the daughter of the novelist and poet Thomas Love Peacock. Within two years, Wallis and Mary Meredith had run away together. They toured Wales, visited Capri and in early 1858 she gave birth to their son, Harold. However, their story ended tragically.

Upon their return to London, Wallis abandoned Mary and Meredith took back their son, Arthur, whom they had together during their marriage. Mary fell into misery and loneliness with her father unable to help her. In late 1861, she died of kidney failure. Neither Meredith nor Wallis nor Peacock attended her funeral.

The other Wallis painting that is still admired today is The stone breakerpainted in 1857 and exhibited at the RA the following year.

This painting was a representation of a working man slumped in the fading light, crushed as much by his poverty as by his backbreaking work. Ruskin’s criticism of this work was that he considered it to be “the picture of the year, but narrowly missing the first rank in any year”. Today the picture hangs in the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery.

A sculptor’s workshop: Wallis’s portrait of the creation of a bust of the bard is now owned by the Royal Shakespeare Company

In all of his paintings, Wallis strove to be as historically accurate as possible. After visiting Stratford on his return from France, he described two scenes related to Shakespeare. One had the right The room where Shakespeare was bornwith such deftly brushed detail that one observer commented that “you can see every nail on the bare wood floor.”

Another Shakespeare painting, now owned by the Royal Shakespeare Company, was named A sculptor’s workshopshowing an imaginative creation of the construction of the Bard’s memorial bust.

Well pointed: Wallis was known for the meticulous detail and research of his paintings

From 1854 to 1877, Wallis exhibited paintings at the Royal Academy almost every year. After this time he became a member of the Old Water Color Society, exchanging his oils for another medium. He composed his watercolors using color a lot. He exhibited over 80 works at the Old Water Color Society gallery and club in Piccadilly.

The use of watercolor meant that Wallis could paint more easily on his travels. This was important because he accepted new challenges. In the late 1870s he undertook his first trip to Egypt and continued to visit archaeological sites in the Middle East for several years. He befriended Flinders Petrie, the famous Egyptologist, and accompanied him on many exploratory excavations.

Wallis painted Petrie admiring a find at the Ramesseum, West Thebes, the memorial temple of the Pharaoh, Ramses II. Several other paintings were produced by Wallis on his Egyptian expeditions, including one from 1899 titled A Do’ruck and Chool’leh merchant, Cairo. Wallis chose to paint a stall with two locals selling a variety of pots to complement his other passion, collecting ceramics.

A Do’ruck and Chool’leh merchant, Cairo: one of Wallis’s paintings from his time exploring Middle Eastern antiquities

Wallis became an expert on various historical objects. He then managed to develop a second career as an art dealer and collector. He had a particular interest in Italian and Islamic ceramics, writing extensively on the subject. He also collected oriental rugs, manuscripts and fine art.

Accurate recording: Wallis copied the paintings they found in the tombs of the pharaohs

From the 1880s, his expertise was such that he became an intermediary in negotiating the purchase of various objects for the South Kensington Museum, what we know today as the Victoria and Albert. It is largely due to Wallis’ knowledge and drive that the museum today holds such a vast collection of majolica, Italian Renaissance and Islamic ceramics.

After his death, most of Wallis’s pottery collection was divided between the V and A and the British Museum.

Wallis also helped record the ancient murals on the walls of Egyptian tombs. He took part in an excavation organized by Sir Francis Grenfell, who in the 1880s was army commander in Egypt during a period when it was under British occupation.

They discovered the rock tomb of Prince Si-renput at Aswan, which had been built around 1900 BC. In 1887, Wallis completed a painting of what the tomb mural looked like, with Si-reput sitting in front of a table filled with offerings to the gods, while his son Anku is seen sitting on the other side of the table holding a flower of lotus.

During his lifetime, Wallis was recognized as a talented artist, particularly involving his preferred style, chiaroscurooh, what was the way he treated light and shadow. He made a second career in antiquities, when many would have been tempted to lay down his pipe and slippers.

For someone who has lived in Croydon for more than 30 years, Wallis’ artistic merits deserve another local airing.

• David Morgan is a former headmaster from Croydon, now Voluntary Education Officer at Croydon Minster, who provides illustrated tours or talks about the history surrounding the church for local community groups.

If you would like a group tour of Croydon Minster or would like to book a school visit, call the Ministry Office on 020 688 8104 or go to the website www.croydonminster.org and use the contact page

Some previous articles by David Morgan:

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