-
Watercolour
Kenrick, William - Enlarge image
Watercolour
- Date:
ca. 1877 (made)
- Artist/Maker:
Kenrick, William (Rt. Hon.), born 1831 - died 1919 (almost certainly by, painter (artist))
- Materials and Techniques:
Watercolour
- Credit Line:
Given by the artist
- Museum number:
E.217-1968
- Gallery location:
British Galleries, room 123, case 10
Object Type
In second half of the 19th century there was a fashion among some proud house owners to record particularly elaborate decorative schemes in their houses. They commissioned artists to paint them in watercolours and drawings, or even drew them themselves.
People
William Kenrick (1831-1919) was an influential figure as he was a local MP and mayor in Birmingham. He was the brother-in-law of Joseph Chamberlain (1836-1914) and was interested in the Arts and Crafts Movement. He became Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Birmingham Guild of Handicraft and Chairman of the Museum and School of Art Committee. He gave Sir John Everett Millais' painting The Blind Girl to Birmingham Art Gallery. He was a great admirer of the writer John Ruskin (1819-1900) and a friend of the painter Sir Edward Burne-Jones (1833-1898). He owned paintings by Alfred Hunt (1830-1896), Henry Wallis (1830-1916), J.W. North, Burne-Jones, Millais, Holman Hunt (1827-1910) and Albert Moore (1841-1893).
Subjects Depicted
This is a drawing of a room in the house built for Kenrick by John Henry Chamberlain (1831-1883). It shows the external doorway, the staircase and the upper landing. Some of Kenrick's collection of art pottery and Chinese blue and white porcelain is displayed on the hanging shelves. A room from this house is also displayed in the British Galleries.
