Frederick Richard Pickersgill

Frederick Richard Pickersgill RA[nb 1] (25 September 1820 – 20 December 1900) was an English painter and book illustrator. Born in London into a family of artists, he was admitted to the Royal Academy Schools in 1840.[2] He exhibited regularly at the Royal Academy between 1839 and 1875. Most of these works depicted scenes drawn from literature (including Edmund Spenser and John Milton), religion, and history.[2]

Frederick Richard Pickersgill
Self portrait, c. 1850
Born	(1820-09-25)25 September 1820 London, England
Died	20 December 1900(1900-12-20) (aged 80) Yarmouth, Isle of Wight, England
Notable work	The Burial of Harold Orsino and Viola

Pickersgill's The Burial of Harold was accepted as a decoration for the Houses of Parliament in 1847 for the sum of £500.[2] He also did some landscapes under the influence of the Pre-Raphaelites.

In 1856 Pickersgill was photographed at The Photography Institute by Robert Howlett, as part of a series of portraits of artists. The picture was among a group exhibited at the Art Treasures Exhibition in Manchester in 1857.[3] In addition, Pickersgill seems to have experimented with photography himself.[2]

Pickersgill was elected an Associate of the Royal Academy in 1847 and a full Royal Academician in June 1857, but retired in 1888.[1][2] He was keeper of the Royal Academy Schools from 1873 to 1887.[1][2]