Background
Samuel Palmer was born on January 27, 1805 in London, United Kingdom. His father, Samuel Palmer senior, was a bookseller and Baptist minister.
Sandy Lodge, Moor Park, Northwood HA6 2HT, United Kingdom
Palmer studied briefly at Merchant Taylors' School.
etcher painter printmaker writer
Samuel Palmer was born on January 27, 1805 in London, United Kingdom. His father, Samuel Palmer senior, was a bookseller and Baptist minister.
Samuel had little formal education, however, he studied briefly at Merchant Taylors' School.
By 1819, Samuel had already showed his small landscape studies at the Royal Academy of Arts. In October 1824, the painter John Linnell took him to see William Blake, who encouraged Palmer in the mystical direction he was taking and provided examples of his own work for Palmer to follow. Blake's influence can be seen clearly in the "Repose of the Holy Family" and the series of sepia drawings of 1825.
In 1826, Palmer moved to Shoreham in Kent. His Shoreham paintings became more naturalistic, but were still charged with visionary intensity. During his seven years there, he produced his most exciting and visionary work, such as "In a Shoreham Garden" and "The Magic Apple Tree". Among the most important productions of this time were "Bright Cloud" and "Skylark", paintings in oil, which was Palmer's usual medium in earlier life. In 1834, the painter left Shoreham for London and expeditions to Wales and Italy confirmed the break with his own past. From that point, his work became more conventional.
In 1854, Palmer was elected a full member of the Royal Watercolour Society, the method, to which he afterwards adhered in his painted work. Among the best and most important paintings, executed by Palmer during his later years, was a noble series of illustrations to Milton's "L' Allegro" and "Il Penseroso".
In 1861, Samuel settled down in Reigate. One of his latest efforts was the production of a series of etchings to illustrate his English metrical version of Virgil's "Eclogues", which was published in 1883, illustrated with reproductions of the artist's water-colours and with etchings, most of which were completed by his son.
The Harvest Moon
The Weary Ploughman 1858
The Sleeping Shepherd - Early Morning
A Dream in the Apennine
The Gleaning Field 1833
The Weald of Kent
A Hilly Scene
Landscape, Girl Standing
The Lonely Tower
Garten in Shoreham
The Artist as Christ
The Golden Valley
Classical River Scene
The Bright Cloud
A Church among Trees
The Sleeping Shepherd
Fantasy View of Lake Nemi
Moonlight, a Landscape with Sheep
View at Tintagel
The Shearers
The Waterfalls, Pistil Mawddach, North Wales 1836
Evening, engraved by Welby Sherman
The Colosseum and the Arch of Constantine from the Palatine, Rome 1839
Early Morning
A Cornfield by Moonlight with the Evening Star
Pear Tree in a Walled Garden
The Rising Moon or An English Pastoral or Evening Pastures
Christian Descending into the Valley of Humiliation
Coming from Evening Church
Quotations:
"Wise men make proverbs, but fools repeat them."
"A picture has been said to be something between a thing and a thought."
"Keep your mouth shut and your eyes open."
"Rural poetry is the pleasure ground of those who live in cities."
"A baited cat may grow as fierce as a lyon."
Palmer greatly admired the work of the artist and poet William Blake. He especially admired Blake’s visionary approach and his lack of respect for conventional watercolour techniques. In Blake's work, Palmer saw the means to express his own mystical tendencies.
In 1839, Samuel married Hannah Linneli, who was a daughter of the painter John Linneli. Their marriage produced two sons — Thomas More Palmer and Alfred Herbert Palmer, a poet. Thomas was the elder child, who died at the age of 19.