Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Clint, Alfred

485286Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900, Volume 11 — Clint, Alfred1887Robert Edmund Graves

CLINT, ALFRED (1807–1883), marine painter, was the fifth and youngest son by his first marriage of George Clint, A.R.A. [q. v.] He was born in Alfred Place, Bedford Square, London, on 22 March 1807, and acquired the technical knowledge of painting from his father, while he studied from the life at a students' society, which met first in Drury Lane and afterwards in the Savoy. In early life he painted portraits and landscapes, and he exhibited for the first time in 1828 at the British Institution, sending in the folio wins year a 'Study from Nature' to the Royal Academy. In 1831 he began to exhibit at the Society of British Artists, of which he became a member in 1843, and secretary from 1853 to 1859. He succeeded Frederick Yeates Hurlstone as president in 1869 and continued to fill that office until 1881. He is best known as a marine painter, the subjects of his picture being taken chiefly from the English Channel, and especially from Jersey, Guernsey, and the coast of Sussex. They were very popular, and some of them have been engraved. Between 1828 and 1879 he contributed no less than 402 works to the exhibitions of the Royal Academy, British Institution, and the Society of British Artists. He both drew and etched the illustrations to Bennett's ′Pedestrian's Guide through North Wales,′ 1838, and in 1856 wrote ′Landscape from Nature,′ which forms the second part of Templeton's ′Guide to Oil Painting.′

Clint died in Lancaster Road, Notting Hill, London, on his birthday, 22 March 1883, at the age of seventy-six, after having for about five years relinquished the pursuit of art owing to the failure of his eyesight. He was buried in the same grave as his father, in Kensal Green cemetery. His remaining works were sold by Messrs. Christie, Manson, & Woods in February 1884.

[Times, 28 March 1883; Athenæum, 31 March 1883; Illustrated London News, 7 April 1883, with portrait; Royal Academy Exhibition Catalogues, 1829-71; Brit. Inst. Exhibition Catalogues, 1828-52; Society of British Artists Catalogues, 1831-79; family memoranda.]

R. E. G.