Sir Joseph Noel Paton (13 December 1821 - 26 December 1901) was a Scottish poet and artist.
Joseph Noel Paton (1821-1901). Bust by his sister, Amelia Roberston Hill (1821-1904), 1872. Photo by Stephen C. Dickson, 2014. Licensed under Creative Commons, courtesy Wikimedia Commons.
Life[]
Youth and education[]
Paton was born in Woolers Alley, Dunfermline, Fife, where his father, a fellow of the Scottish Society of Antiquaries, carried on the trade of a damask manufacturer.[1]
He showed strong artistic inclinations in early childhood, but had no regular art training, except a brief period of study in the Royal Academy School in 1843.[1]
Career[]
Paton gained a prize of £200 in the initial Westminster Hall competition, in 1845, for his cartoon "The Spirit of Religion," and in the following year he exhibited at the Royal Scottish Academy his "Quarrel of Oberon and Titania." A companion fairy picture, "The Reconciliation of Oberon and Titania" went to Westminster Hall in 1847, and for it and his picture of "Christ bearing the Cross" he was awarded a prize of £300 by the Fine Arts Commissioners. The 2 Oberon pictures are in the National Gallery of Scotland, where they have long been a centre of attraction.[1]
His earliest exhibited picture, "Ruth Gleaning," appeared at the Royal Scottish Academy in 1844. He began to contribute to the Royal Academy of London in 1856. Throughout his career his preference was for allegorical, fairy and religious subjects. Among his most famous pictures are " The Pursuit of Pleasure" (1855), "Mors Janua Vitae" (1866), "Oskold and the Elle-maids" (1874), and "In Die Malo" (1882).[1]
Paton also produced a certain amount of sculpture, more notable for design than for searching execution.[1]
He was a poet of distinct merit, as his Poems by a Painter (1861) and Spindrift (1867) pleasantly exemplified. He was also well known as an antiquary, his hobby, indeed, being the collection of arms and armor.[1]
He died in Edinburgh. His eldest son, Diarmid Noel Paton (born 1859), became regius professor of physiology in Glasgow in 1906; and another son, Frederick Noel Paton (born 1861), became in 1905 director of commercial intelligence to the government of India.[1]
Recognition[]
Paton was elected an associate of the Royal Scottish Academy in 1847, and a full member in 1850.[1]
He was appointed Queen's Limner for Scotland in 1866.[1]
He was knighted in 1867.[1]
In 1878 the University of Edinburgh conferred upon him the degree of LL.D.[1]
Publications[]
Poetry[]
- Poems by a Painter. Edinburgh: William Blackwood, 1861.
- Spindrift. Edinburgh & London: William Blackwood, 1867.
Art[]
- James Wilson, *Silent Love: A poem (illustrated by Paton). Paisley, UK: Murray & Stewart, 1845; Philadelphia: Ball, 1877.
- The Dowie Dens o'Yarrow (illustrated by J. Noel Paton). 1860.
- Compositions from Shakespeare's Tempest: Fifteen engravings in outline. Edinburgh: W.P. Nimmo, 1877.
- Compositions from Shelley's Prometheus Unbound: Twelve engravings in outline. Edinburgh: W.P. Nimmo, 1877.
- The Life and Work of Sir Joseph Noël Paton ... Her Majesty's limner for Scotland. London: Art Journal, 1895.
- Fact & Fancy: Drawings and paintings by Sir Joseph Noël Paton, 1821-1901. Edinburgh: Scottish Art Council, 1967.
Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy WorldCat.[2]
See also[]
References[]
Notes[]
External links[]
- Poems
- Paton in A Victorian Anthology, 1837-1895: "Requiem," "The Last of the Eurydice
- Books
- Joseph Noel Paton at Amazon.com
- About
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain, the 1911 Edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica.. Original article is at Paton, Sir Joseph Noel
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