Dictionary of National Biography, 1912 supplement/Corbet, Matthew Ridley
CORBET, MATTHEW RIDLEY (1850–1902), painter, born on 20 May 1850 at South Willingham, Lincolnshire, was son of the Rev. Andrew Corbet by his wife Marianne Ridley. He was educated at Cheltenham College, and coming to London entered the Royal Academy schools. His first exhibits at the Royal Academy were portraits, among them those of Lady Slade (1875), Mrs. Heneage Wynne-Finch (1877), and Lady Clay (1879). Though he continued to paint occasional portraits, such as those of Lord Northbourne (1886), Mrs. Stuart (afterwards Lady) Rendel (1891), the Hon. Walter James (1892), Lady Morpeth (1895), and Lady Cecilia Roberts (1897), he was concerned from 1883 onwards almost entirely with landscape. Between 1875 and 1902 he exhibited thirty-eight works in all at the Royal Academy, of which he was elected an associate in 1902. After 1880 he also sent several of his important works to the Grosvenor Gallery, and later to the New Gallery. His 'Sunrise' gained a bronze medal at the Paris Exhibition of 1889; and his 'Morning Glory' (1894) and 'Val d'Arno Evening' (1901), bought under the terms of the Chantrey bequest, are now in the Tate Gallery.
As a pupil and devoted follower of Giovanni Costa, Corbet was steeped in the beauty of Italian landscape, and though he found the subject of his 'Morning Glory' near the Severn, he was, as a rule, at his best when painting under Italian skies. The title that he chose from Keats for one of his exhibits in 1890 'A land of fragrance, quietness, and trees and flowers' suggests the spirit of the Italian scenes which inspired his brush. In his work there was always a fine sensitiveness to the poetic beauties of nature, and a restful harmony of colour. His sense of beauty was too refined and cultivated to win the masses, and his distinguished talent was just beginning to win appreciation at the time of his death. Among his more important works, besides those already mentioned, are ‘Passing Storm’ (1896), ‘Autumn Rains’ (1896), and ‘Florence in Spring’ (1898).
Corbet died on 25 June 1902 at his residence, 54 Circus Road, St. John's Wood, from an attack of pneumonia, and after cremation his ashes were laid behind a tablet in the wall of South Willingham church. On 17 March 1891 he married Mrs. Arthur Murch (born Edith Edenborough), herself a landscape painter, whose vision and methods were in close sympathy with his own. A bust portrait of Corbet, sculptured by E. Onslow Ford, R.A., and medallion portrait by Alfred Gilbert, R.A., are now in the possession of his widow.
[The Times, 27 June 1902; Mag. of Art, xxvi. 236, 1902; Graves's Academy Exhibitors; private information.]