Briton Reviére Painter Biography:
Table of Contents
Birth and family – a Brief History
Birth
14th of August, 1840, in London.
Parents
Ann and William Reviére. He was their youngest child.
Family
Briton Reviére belonged to a family of painters. His mother, Ann, was the daughter of Joseph Jarvis of Atherton, Whackshire. The family originally bore the name of Nerac but they moved to England from the district of Bordeaux, after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes.
His mother was skilled in painting and was a good musician. His father, grandfather, and uncle were all painters and teachers of painting. Altogether, along with his mother, nine bearers of the name is found in the list of exhibitors at the Royal Academy. Another uncle of Briton Reviére was a well-known bookbinder.
The Early life of Briton Reviére Painter
College
Cheltenham College where his father was the drawing master.
Life
In 1851 and 1852, while still in college, he had sent two little oil paintings of kittens to the exhibition at British Institution.
He started painting series from the year 1859. These were to be shown annually at the Royal Academy. His first painting was ‘ the Broken Chain ‘. However, there was an interruption, although small, of four years, when he did not send in paintings to the Royal Academy.
People who influenced Briton Riviére
Clarence Dobell, the brother of his future wife, Mary Alice. Under his influence, Reviére began getting attracted to pre-Raphaelites and started painting according to their principles.
Reviére moved to London with his wife in 1871. He was attracted to and influenced by the artists at the new Scottish school. Orchardson, Pettie, Peter Graham, and MacWhirter introduced him to the concept of a color scheme, instead of a black and white scheme. His fine use of broken, shimmering colors was also a consequence of their influence.
Places of work
He exhibited his oil paintings at:
The Royal Academy
Dudley Gallery
Grosvenor Gallery.
He worked for Punch in decorative items.
He illustrated for English and American magazines. Good Word was one such noteworthy magazine.
He had also illustrated for some of Mrs. Craik’s novels.
His artworks are found in:
Royal Holloway College
Tate Gallery
Hamburg (Schwabe collection)
Sydney
Diploma Gallery
Works of Briton Reviére
Elaine on the Barge
Hamlet and Ophelia
Miracles of the Gadarene Swine
Giants at Play
Beyond Man’s Footsteps
A study for ‘Sympathy’
An Anxious Moment
The Last Spoonful
A Roman Holiday
The King Drinks
Prometheus
More Info On- Morris and the Kelmscott Press, William Morris Hunt Painter