George Lance

Lavishly illustrated with George Lance's works, this first ever biography gives a rounded picture of the man, not just the artist, and serves as the definitive record of the life of a much under-appreciated painter.

George Lance (1802-1864) brought new vibrancy to still life painting in the early Victorian period. In his seminal work Victorian Painting (1966), Graham Reynolds stated that the revival of still life painting, as an artist's main preoccupation, was effected almost single-handedly by Lance. Over one hundred years earlier J.M.W. Turner had expressed the view that Lance was one of the three greatest colourists of his era.

Lance was a pupil of the contumacious and ultimately tragic B.R. Haydon, a titanic figure in the Regency art world. Lance drew inspiration from the Dutch and Flemish Old Masters, adopting many of their motifs. His work was purchased by some of the greatest aristocrats and industrialists of the time.

He was never elected to the Royal Academy, a mystery to contemporary commentators but perhaps due to his confrontation with the political establishment. His popularity with his fellow artists, however, was never in doubt.