Stanfield, CLARKSON

Stanfield, CLARKSON, marine painter, was born of Irish Roman Catholic parents at Sunderland in 1794, his father being an actor and author. He became a sailor in 1808, was pressed into the navy in 1812, and served for a time in the ship in which Douglas Jerrold was a midshipman. He showed talent both in painting and drawing, and was taken note of by Captain Marryat. Stanfield left the navy in 1818, and thereafter took to scene-painting as a means of earning his bread—at first in the Old Royalty Theatre, and afterwards in Edinburgh and at Drury Lane. While painting for the theatres he had by no means neglected casel-painting. The first picture by him that attracted any considerable notice was 'Market-boats on the Scheldt,' exhibited at the British Institution in 1826. In 1830 Stanfield exhibited at the Academy his 'Mount St Michael, Cornwall,' which placed him at once in the foremost rank as a marine painter. In 1823 Stanfield, in conjunction with David Roberts and others, founded the Society of British Artists. Elected A.R.A. in 1832 and R.A. in 1835, he continued to send pictures to the Academy till his death at Hampstead, 18th May 1867. Among his best-known pictures, marked by truth, finish, and poetic feeling, were 'The Abandoned' and 'The Wreck of a Dutch East Indianman.'