Frederic Shields. Frederic James Shields was a British artist, illustrator and designer closely associated with the Pre-Raphaelites through Dante Gabriel Rossetti and Ford Madox Brown.
Frederic James Shields was born in Hartlepool. He was brought up in extreme poverty, and as a young man was employed on hack-work for commercial engravers.
He managed to study art briefly at evening classes in London and then in Manchester, where he settled in about 1848. He spent much of his artistic life in Manchester, and it was there that his drawings and watercolours were noticed and appreciated.
The Manchester Art Treasures Exhibition of 1857 made a great impression on Shields. His style became more elegant and minute.
Inspired by Edward Moxon's illustrated edition of Poems by Alfred Tennyson, he started to work in black-and-white as a book illustrator. His designs for Daniel Defoe's History of the Plague and John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress were very successful and brought him admirers, among whose were John Ruskin and Dante Gabriel Rossetti. In May 1864 Shields went to London and met Rossetti, through whom he soon came to know the whole Pre-Raphaelite circle. Influenced by Rossetti and Ford Madox Brown, Shields was sensitive to the artistic legacy of William Blake who was admired by the Pre-Raphaelites. His portrayal of the room in which William Blake had died inspired a poem by DG Rossetti. Frederic Shiel
Frederic James Shields was born in Hartlepool. He was brought up in extreme poverty, and as a young man was employed on hack-work for commercial engravers.
He managed to study art briefly at evening classes in London and then in Manchester, where he settled in about 1848. He spent much of his artistic life in Manchester, and it was there that his drawings and watercolours were noticed and appreciated.
The Manchester Art Treasures Exhibition of 1857 made a great impression on Shields. His style became more elegant and minute.
Inspired by Edward Moxon's illustrated edition of Poems by Alfred Tennyson, he started to work in black-and-white as a book illustrator. His designs for Daniel Defoe's History of the Plague and John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress were very successful and brought him admirers, among whose were John Ruskin and Dante Gabriel Rossetti. In May 1864 Shields went to London and met Rossetti, through whom he soon came to know the whole Pre-Raphaelite circle. Influenced by Rossetti and Ford Madox Brown, Shields was sensitive to the artistic legacy of William Blake who was admired by the Pre-Raphaelites. His portrayal of the room in which William Blake had died inspired a poem by DG Rossetti. Frederic Shiel
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