|
(b Little Easton, Essex, 24 March 1802; d Sunnyside, Merseyside, 8 June 1864). English painter. In 1816, after a brief and unsuccessful apprenticeship as a clerk in a Leeds factory, Lance moved to London. He was apprenticed to Benjamin Robert Haydon for seven years but also occasionally attended the Royal Academy Schools. Lance reacted positively to Haydon.s teaching and, although he resisted Haydon.s attempts to draw him into history painting, his occasional works in this genre were well received. His Melancthon.s First Misgiving at the Church of Rome (1836; Manchester, C.A.G.) won the Liverpool Academy Award for the best historical picture of the season. By 1824 Lance had devoted himself almost exclusively to still-life. Mostly in oil, but occasionally in watercolour, his still-lifes closely follow those of the Dutch masters in form and arrangement. His use of colour is bold, his attention to detail meticulous and his feeling for texture sensitive, as exemplified by Still-life with Fruit (1842; London, V&A). Although William Etty, Peter de Wint and Lance.s pupil William Duffield (1816.63) made some notable contributions to the field, Lance.s main importance lies in his almost single-handed revival of still-life painting as an artist.s main preoccupation. Patronized by Sir George Beaumont and many other important collectors, Lance prospered throughout his life, but he was never admitted to the Royal Academy. At his death his oeuvre stood at approximately four hundred items. The contents of his studio were auctioned at Christie.s on 27 May 1873. |
