Home Online catalogues True to Nature. Open-air Painting 1780-1870 152. Augustus Leopold Egg London 1816 – 1863 Algiers The Farmyard Best known for his celebrated triptych Past and Present (Tate, London), the Victorian painter Augustus Egg studied at the Royal Academy Schools. There he became a member of The Clique, a short-lived informal society of artists which included Richard Dadd (1817–1886). Unlike the other members, Egg was an admirer of the Pre-Raphaelites and was an early encourager and patron of the younger Holman Hunt (cat. 130). Egg’s fragile health and severe asthma led him to seek refuge in warmer climes, and he spent much time in Eastbourne on the southeast coast of England. He rented a fourteenth-century house on Borough Lane called Pilgrims, where he was visited by his close friend Charles Dickens. Both these views (cat. 151 and 152) may have been painted there. They stand out in Egg’s oeuvre for their freshness and immediacy. Here, we find none of the narrative elements or moral messages which were so dear to Victorian artists. Though Egg painted a number of oil studies on board to prepare his portraits and genre scenes, pure landscapes by the artist are very rare.
Best known for his celebrated triptych Past and Present (Tate, London), the Victorian painter Augustus Egg studied at the Royal Academy Schools. There he became a member of The Clique, a short-lived informal society of artists which included Richard Dadd (1817–1886). Unlike the other members, Egg was an admirer of the Pre-Raphaelites and was an early encourager and patron of the younger Holman Hunt (cat. 130). Egg’s fragile health and severe asthma led him to seek refuge in warmer climes, and he spent much time in Eastbourne on the southeast coast of England. He rented a fourteenth-century house on Borough Lane called Pilgrims, where he was visited by his close friend Charles Dickens. Both these views (cat. 151 and 152) may have been painted there. They stand out in Egg’s oeuvre for their freshness and immediacy. Here, we find none of the narrative elements or moral messages which were so dear to Victorian artists. Though Egg painted a number of oil studies on board to prepare his portraits and genre scenes, pure landscapes by the artist are very rare.