Background
He was born and died in Exeter, where he assisted with the creation of the museum and the university. He was the son of John and Frances Gendall.
He was born and died in Exeter, where he assisted with the creation of the museum and the university. He was the son of John and Frances Gendall.
Gendall was involved in the early use of lithography in London. Gendall was baptised in Exeter on 2 January 1790 at Street Edmund"s Church. Gendall was employed as a servant but his drawings were talent spotted by an employee of the print seller Rudolf Ackermann in a shop owned by West. Cole.
Ackermann arranged to bring Gendall to London where he initially worked filing artists images.
During his time with Ackermann he became a manager and he was involved with the company"s early experiments with lithography. Gendall was involved in a number of Ackermann"s publications including his 1821 Picturesque Tour of the Seine, from Paris to the Sea.. written by Jean-Baptiste-Balthazard Sauvan and illustrated by Augustus Pugin and Gendall.
The elder Cole was able to call on Gendall"s experience, and the partnership continued until the business went bankrupt and Cole retired. Gendall then launched a similar business based at an Exeter coffee house called Mols Coffee House.
Gendall"s reputation enabled him to launch an art school that attracted Richard Ford, who was a writer, and local Edward Bowring Stephens, who became a sculptor.
1854 saw the establishment of Exeter University, and in 1861 Gendall was very involved with creation of a museum for Exeter. Gendall volunteered to pull together the initial collections required to fill the Royal Albert Memorial Museum, but he died before the museum opened. His former pupil Edward Bowring Stephens launched an unsuccessful campaign to buy some of his work for Exeter, but the museum has since made purchases.
As a result, Gendall has a number of paintings in the Royal Albert Memorial Museum.
