Dictionary of National Biography, 1927 supplement/Richmond, William Blake
RICHMOND, Sir WILLIAM BLAKE (1842–1921), artist, the second son of George Richmond, R.A. [q.v.], by his wife, Julia, daughter of Charles Heathcote Tatham [q.v.], architect, was born in London 29 November 1842. While still a boy he became an enthusiastic student of the writings of Ruskin and was led by them to a keen admiration of the works of Holman Hunt, Millais, and the pre-Raphaelite school; but he never formally adopted the principles of the Brotherhood, though their influence, together with that of Leighton and Da Costa, is clearly traceable in much of his work. Richmond was educated at home till 1858, when he entered the Royal Academy Schools; there he gained in 1859 second prize (silver medal) for a drawing from the antique, and in 1861 third prize (silver medal) for a drawing from the life; in the latter year he was also represented for the first time at the annual exhibition by a portrait of his brothers Walter and John. This brought him several commissions, but he was not misled by these into the belief that he had no more to learn; and in 1865 he went to Italy, where for four years he devoted himself to sculpture, architecture, and painting in tempera and fresco. The results of his studies in sculpture were seen later in statues of ‘An Athlete’ and ‘The Arcadian Shepherd’, and a bust ‘Lady Richmond’. His studies in fresco stood him in good stead when in 1873 he painted a series of frescoes illustrating ‘The Life of Woman’ (in the house of J. S. Hodgson, Lythe Hill, Haslemere); but his only performance in tempera seems to have been a ceiling which he painted for practice in his hotel at Assisi in 1867, and found forty-six years later as fresh as on the day when it was finished.
Continuing at the same time to work in oils, Richmond brought back with him from Italy in 1869 a picture of ‘A Procession in Honour of Bacchus’, and exhibited it that year at the Royal Academy. To such subjects he would have been well content to confine himself thenceforward, and he did in fact complete a considerable number, among them being ‘Ariadne abandoned by Theseus’ (1872), ‘Prometheus Bound’ (1874), ‘Electra at the Tomb of Agamemnon’ (1877), now in the gallery at Toronto, ‘The Birth of Venus’ (1881), ‘An Audience at Athens during the Performance of Agamemnon’ (1885), now at Birmingham, ‘The Death of Ulysses’ (1888), ‘Venus and Anchises’ (1889), now at Liverpool, ‘The Bath of Venus’ (1891), and many others. But the gift of pleasing portraiture inherited from his father, grandfather, and great-grandfather, was too marked to be neglected, and Richmond, had he so desired, might have fully occupied his time with that alone. He was conspicuously in favour with the peerage and the bench of bishops, but among his sitters of more important interest were W. E. Gladstone, Prince Bismarck, Charles Darwin, Theodor Mommsen, Robert Browning, and Andrew Lang.
Richmond's chief claim, however, to the attention of posterity will doubtless rest on the great scheme for the decoration of St. Paul's Cathedral, London, on which he was engaged for several years. Stirred to interest in this by the architect, George Frederick Bodley, he drew up a plan into the execution of which, when it was approved in 1891, he threw himself whole-heartedly. Convinced that mosaic was the only material suited to the London atmosphere, he found that he must first master the technique himself and then impart it to the British craftsmen. Moreover, the customary method of building up the mosaic elsewhere and then attaching it to the walls was found to be incompatible with a solution of the various problems of light which arose; he decided, therefore, to execute the work on the spot. Opinions differ as to the result, but it is beyond dispute the most complete and consistent piece of internal decoration which has been achieved in England for many years.
Preferring always to work at art rather than to talk about it, Richmond was nevertheless persuaded to accept the post of Slade professor of fine art at Oxford when Ruskin retired in 1879. He resigned the chair in 1883. Several lectures and addresses of his were published at intervals, and his Assisi, Impressions of Half a Century (1919) was illustrated by reproductions of a selection from the large number of landscapes in colour and pencil with which he occupied the intervals of his weightier tasks. He received the customary honours of the successful artist, becoming associate of the Royal Academy in 1888 and academician in 1895. Oxford conferred upon him the degree of D.C.L. in 1896, and in 1897 he was created K.C.B. He married in 1867 Clara Jane (died 1915), daughter of William Richards, merchant, of Cardiff, and had six sons and one daughter. He died at Beavor Lodge, Hammersmith, 11 February 1921.
There is a portrait of Richmond by George Phoenix in the National Portrait Gallery.
[The Times, 14 February 1921; Magazine of Art, vols. xxii and xxv; A. M. W. Stirling, The Richmond Papers, 1926; private information.]