Orchardson, WILLIAM QUILLER

Orchardson, WILLIAM QUILLER, a genre-painter, who is considered to bear the palm in this branch of art, surpassing all other English physiognomists in accuracy, expression, and dexterous execution. He was born in 1835 in Edinburgh, where subsequently he studied under Scott Lauder at the Trustees' Academy; he became A.R.A. in 1868, R.A. in 1877, and received a Medal of Honour at the Exposition Universelle, 1878. Best known among his exquisite and highly-popular pictures are 'The Challenge' (1865), 'The Duke's Antechamber' (1869), 'Casus Belli' (1870), 'The Protector' (1871), 'The Bill of Sale' (1875), 'The Queen of the Swords' (1877), 'A Social Eddy' (1878), 'Hard Hit' (1879), 'On board H.M.S. Bellerophon, July 23, 1815' (1880; bought by the Chantrey Bequest), 'Mariage de Constance' (1884), 'After' (1886), 'The Salon of Madame Récamier' (1885), 'The First Cloud' (1887), and 'The Young Duke' (1889). On the artist (who is D.C.L. of Oxford), see the Portfolio for February 1895 by W. Armstrong.