Background
Callcott was born in Kensington gravel pits, London.
Callcott was born in Kensington gravel pits, London.
His first study was music and he sang for several years in the choir of Westminster Abbey. He then became a student of the Royal Academy, and commenced his artistic career as a painter of portraits under the tuition of John Hoppner. The first picture he exhibited was a portrait of "Mission Roberts", and its success at the Royal Academy in 1799 is said to have led to his final choice of painting as a profession.
His preference for landscape, including river and coast scenery, soon showed itself, and after 1804 he exhibited nothing but landscapes for many years.
In 1806 he was elected an associate of the Royal Academy, and in 1810 a royal academician. The care which he bestowed upon his pictures restricted their number.
From 1805 to 1810 he exhibited about four pictures a year, in 1811 ten pictures, and in 1812, six. From that year to 1822 he exhibited but seven works in all, but among these were some of his best and largest, such as "The Entrance to the Pool of London" (1816), "The Mouth of the Tyne" (1818), and "A Dead Calm on the Medway" (1820).
Another important picture was "Rochester" (1824).
On their return from Italy they took up their residence at the Gravel Pits, Kensington, where he resided till his death, enjoying great popularity. In 1830 he commenced to exhibit Italian compositions, and after this year the subjects of his pictures were generally foreign. On the accession of Queen Victoria in 1837, Callcott received the honour of knighthood.
In that year he departed from his usual class of subjects, and exhibited a picture of "Raffaelle and the Fornarina", with life-size figures, finished with great care, which was engraved by Lumb Stocks for the London Art Union in 1843.
The figures in his landscapes were often important parts of the composition, and were always gracefully designed and happily placed, as, for instance, in "Dutch Peasants returning from Market". In 1843 he succeeded William Seguier as Surveyor of the Queen"s Pictures.
Augustus Wall Callcott died on 25 November 1844 and was buried in Kensal Green cemetery. There are qualities in Callcott"s work which gained the admiration of J. M. West. Turner and Thomas Stothard in his day.
He was generous in his patronage of younger artists.