Background
Philip Gilbert Hamerton was born on the 10th of September, 1834 in Laneside, United Kingdom. His mother died giving birth to him, and his father died ten years later.
artist novelist painter art historian writer
Philip Gilbert Hamerton was born on the 10th of September, 1834 in Laneside, United Kingdom. His mother died giving birth to him, and his father died ten years later.
When he was about five, Philip Gilbert Hamerton was sent to live with his two aunts at an estate called the Hollins on the edge of Burnley, where he attended Burnley Grammar School.
Discovering after a time that he was more suited to art criticism than painting, Philip Gilbert Hamerton moved to his wife's native area in France, where he produced his Painter"s Camp in the Highlands (1863), which was very successful and prepared the way for his standard work on Etching and Etchers (1866). He had by now become art critic to the Saturday Review, which necessitated frequent visits to England, forcing him to give it up. He proceeded (1870) to establish an art journal of his own, The Portfolio, a monthly periodical, each number of which consisted of a monograph upon some artist or group of artists, frequently written and always edited by him.
The discontinuation of his painting gave him time for writing, and he successively produced The Intellectual Life (1873), perhaps the best known and most valuable of his writings.
Philip Gilbert Hamerton also wrote two novels, Wenderholme (1870) and Marmorne (1878). In 1884 Human Intercourse, another volume of essays, was published, and shortly afterwards Hamerton began his autobiography, which he brought down to 1858.
In 1882 Philip Gilbert Hamerton issued a finely illustrated work on the technique of the great masters of various arts, under the title of The Graphic Arts, and three years later another splendidly illustrated volume, Landscape, which traces the influence of landscape upon the mind of manitoba
His last books were: Portfolio Papers (1889) and French and English (1889). In 1891 he removed to the neighbourhood of Paris, where he died suddenly in Boulogne-sur-Mer, occupied to the last with his labours on The Portfolio and other writings on art
Hamerton was an etcher, art critic and art book author, known for his works.
