William Bell Scott

William Bell Scott (12 September 1811 - 22 November 1890) was a Scottish poet and painter.

William Bell Scott (1811-1890). Portrait by Frederick Bacon Barwell. Courtesy Wikimedia Commons.

Life

Overview

The son of Robert Scott, an engraver, and brother of David Scott, a painter, William Bell Scott was born in Edinburgh, settled in London, and painted chiefly historical subjects. He publihed 5 volumes of poetry, including Hades and The Year of the World, and many fine sonnets, a form of poetry in which he excelled, and in prose Half-hour Lectures on Art and 'The Little Masters in the Great Artists' Series. He also edited a series of 'English Poets,' and wrote Lives of his brother and of Albrecht Dürer.

Youth and education

Scott was born at St. Leonard's, Edinburgh, the 7th child of engraver Robert Scott (1777-1841) by his wife Ross (Bell), a niece of the sculptor Gowan. Painter David Scott was an elder brother.

The death in infancy of the 4 eldest children of the family saddened the household for many years, and the parents joined the baptist body.

William was educated at Edinburgh high school, and received his earliest art teaching from his father. He afterwards attended classes at the Trustees' Academy, and in 1831 was for some months in London drawing from the antique in the British Museum.

Subsequently he assisted his father, now an invalid, in his business as an engraver, carried on in a tenement overlooking Parliament House Square, Edinburgh.

Career

William Bell Scott (Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood)

Scott began to write poetry, and sought out Christopher North and other celebrities for advice and encouragement. Some of his poems appeared in Tait's Magazine and in the Edinburgh University Souvenir for 1834.

In 1837 he moved to London, where he supported himself precariously by etching, engraving, and painting. His first picture, ‘The Old English Ballad Singer,’ was exhibited in 1838 at the British Institution. In 1840 ‘The Jester’ appeared in the Norfolk Street Gallery, and in 1842 he exhibited at the academy. Down to his last appearance at the academy in 1869 he exhibited in all 20 pictures in London.

In 1843 he sent a cartoon to the competition of designs for the decoration of the Houses of Parliament. The cartoon was unsuccessful, but procured him from the board of trade the offer of a mastership in the government school of design at Newcastle-on-Tyne. He had already married Miss Letitia Margery (Norquoy), and, desiring a fixed income, he accepted this offer, which gave him for 20 years a chief part in organising art schools in the north under the department of science and art.

During Scott's stay in the north his literary and artistic activity was very great. About 1855 he executed for Sir Walter Trevelyan at Wallington Hall a series of 8 large pictures, with numerous life-size figures, illustrating the history of Northumberland and the border. The scheme of decoration was completed in 1863-1864 by the addition of 18 oil pictures in the spandrils of the arches of the hall, on the subject of the "Ballad of Chevy Chase."

In 1859 Scott began his lifelong friendship with Miss Boyd of Penkill Castle, Ayrshire, where in 1868 he painted a series of designs illustrating the King's Quhair in encaustic on the walls of a circular staircase.

When in 1864 Scott returned once more to London, he continued his connection with the department at South Kensington as artist employed in decoration, and as examiner in art schools, until 1885.

In 1870 he bought Bellevue House in Chelsea, and divided his time for the rest of his days between London and Ayrshire. In London he had a large circle of friends, and was for 50 years in close contact with the chief literary and artistic coteries of the metropolis. He was an intimate friend of Rossetti, and an acquaintance of Swinburne. It is for his connection with Rossetti's circle that Bell Scott will be chiefly remembered.

He published poetry at intervals (notably Poems, 1875, illustrated by etchings by himself and Lawrence Alma-Tadema). He also wrote several volumes of artistic and literary criticism, and edited Keats, “L.E.L.,” , Byron, Coleridge, Shelley, Shakespeare and Scott.

He resigned his appointment under the Science and Art Department in 1885, and from then till his death he was mainly occupied in writing his reminiscences. These appeared after his death in 1892 in 2 volumes — Autobiographical Notes of the Life of William Bell Scott; and Notices of his Artistic and Poetic Circle of Friends, 1830 to 1882 — edited by William Minto (with two portraits, from etchings by himself). The frankness, and even surliness, of his tone and occasional inaccuracy caused general irritation; but the work is a valuable contribution to the history of literary and artistic society.

Scott died, after several years of suffering, from angina pectoris, on 22 November 1890 at Penkill Castle.

Writing

It is probably upon his poetry that Scott's reputation will ultimately rest. His poetry recalled Blake and Percy Shelley, and was considerably influenced by Rossetti. But he lacked Rossetti's intensity and artistic genius. Fundamentally he was Scotch, and, in spite of the breadth of his sympathies, his best poetry is mystical and metaphysical rather than romantic.

Recognition

Algernon Charles Swinburne wrote memorial verses on Scott's death (Athenæum, 28 Feb. 1891).

Scott's poem "The Which's Ballad" was included in the Oxford Book of English Verse, 1250-1900.

Publications

Poetry

• Hades, or, The transit; and, The progress of mind: Two poems. London: H. Renshaw, 1838.
• Poems. London: Smith, Elder, 1854.
• Poems by William Bell Scott: Ballads, studies from nature, sonnets, etc. (illustrated by Scott & Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema). London: Longmans, Green, 1875; New York: AMS Press, 1971.
• A Poet's Harvest Home: Being one hundred short poems. London: E. Stock, 1882; London: Elkin Mathews, 1893.

Non-fiction

• Memoir of David Scott, R.S.A.. Edinburgh: Adam & Charles Black, 1850.
• Half-Hour Lectures on the History and Practice of the Fine and Ornamental Arts. London: Longman, Green, Longman, and Roberts, 1861.
• Albert Durer: His life and works. Including autobiographical papers and complete catalogues. London: Longmans, Green, 1869.
• Our British landscape painters: From Samuel Scott to David Cox. London: Virtue, Spalding, 1872.
• The British School of Sculpture. London: Virtue, 1872.
• Gems of Modern Belgian art: A series of carbon-photographs from the pictures of eminent living artists. London: G. Routledge and Sons, 1872.
• Autobiographical Notes of the Life of William Bell Scott: And notices of his artistic and poetic circle of friends, 1830 to 1882 (edited by William Minto). London: Osgood, McIlvaine, 1892; New York: Harper, 1892. Volume I, Volume II
• The Little Masters. New York: Scribner & Welford / London: S. Low, Marston, Searle & Rivington, 1900.

Edited

• William Blake: Etchings from his works. London: Chatto & Windus, 1878.

Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy WorldCat.

See also

• List of British poets

References

•  Bayne, Ronald (1897) "Scott, William Bell" in Lee, Sidney Dictionary of National Biography 51 London: Smith, Elder, pp. 113-115  . Wikisource, Web, Mar. 1, 2017.
•  Chisholm, Hugh, ed (1911). "Scott, William Bell". Encyclopædia Britannica. 24 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 475. . Wikisource, Web, Mar. 1, 2017.

External links

Poems

• "The Which's Ballad".
• Scott in the Oxford Book of English Mystical Verse: "Pebbles in the Stream," "from The Year of the World
• William Bell Scott at Sonnet Central
• Scott in A Victorian Anthology, 1837-1895: "Glenkindie," "Youth and Age," "Pygmalion," "My Mother," "The Norns Watering Yggdrasill," "To the Dead," "Hero-Worship"
• William Bell Scott at PoemHunter (105 poems)
• William Bell Scott at Poetry Nook (125 poems)

Art

• Scott, William Bell at ArtUK

Books

• William Bell Scott at Amazon.com

About

• William Bell Scott (1811-1890) biography at Institute for Advanced Technology in the Humanities
• "William Bell Scott, Alice Boyd, and Penkill" at Pre-Raphaelite Art

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain, the Dictionary of National Biography (edited by Leslie Stephen & Sidney Lee). London: Smith, Elder, 1885-1900. Original article is at: Scott, William Bell
 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain, the 1911 Edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica.. Original artile is at: Scott, William Bell