John brett biography
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John Brett (artist)
British artist
John BrettARA (8 December 1831 – 7 January 1902) was a British artist associated with the Pre-Raphaelite movement, mainly notable for his highly detailed landscapes.[1]
Life
[edit]Brett was born near Reigate on 8 December 1831, the son of an army vet. His sister Rosa Brett was also an artist and during 1850 and 1851 they shared a studio.[2] In 1851 he began lessons in art with James Duffield Harding, a landscape painter. He also studied with Richard Redgrave. In 1853 he entered the Royal Academy Schools, but was more interested in the ideas of John Ruskin and William Holman Hunt, whom he met through his friend the poet Coventry Patmore. Inspired by Hunt's ideal of scientific landscape painting, Brett visited Switzerland, where he worked on topographical landscapes and came under the further influence of John William Inchbold.
In 1858 Brett exhibited The Stonebreaker, the painting that made his reputation. Thi
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John Brett: Pre-Raphaelite Landscape Painter
Drawing on a wealth of unpublished sketchbooks, journals, and writings, this essential guide to John Brett (1831-1902) investigates the painter who was seen as the leader of the Pre-Raphaelite landscape school. In addition to exploring the familiar early works, including The Val d'Aosta and Stonebreaker, it provides rich information on his later, less-known coastal and marine paintings. Brett's turbulent friendship with John Ruskin is discussed, as are his relations with his beloved sister, Rosa, and his partner Mary, with whom he had seven children. His fervent interest in astronomy, his love of the sea, and his lifelong pursuit of wealth and recognition are all examined in this reassessment, which concludes with a catalogue raisonné of his works, prepared by his descendent Charles Brett.
Published for the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art
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John Brett (b 1831)
See John Brett’s wikipedia entry
The Dictionary of National Biography (1912) on John Brett (the painter). “BRETT, JOHN (1831–1902), landscape painter, born at Bletchingley, Surrey, on 8 Dec. 1831, was eldest son of Captain Charles Curtis Brett of the 12th lancers bygd his wife Ann Philbrick. […] He died in his house at Putney on 8 Jan. 1902. He married in 1870, and had fyra sons and three daughters who survived him. A portrait in oils bygd himself, painted about 1865, belongs to his son, Mr. Michael Brett.”
The current ODNB article (behind a paywall) adds “Captain Charles Curtis Brett (1789–1865), an army veterinarian” and “Ann Pilbean (b. 1808/9)”. “About 1870 Brett met, and later married, Mary Ann Howcroft (b. 1844/5), with whom he had seven children, the first being born in either 1871 or 1872.”
His parents were Charles Curtis Brett and Ann Pilbean.
John settled and had a family with Mary Ann Howcroft.
See Christiana Payne’s biography.