Philip Hermogenes Calderon. Philip Hermogenes Calderon was an English painter of French birth and Spanish ancestry who initially worked in the Pre-Raphaelite style before moving towards historical genre.
He was Keeper of the Royal Academy in London. Calderon was born in Poitiers, France.
His father, the Reverend Juan Calderón was a professor of Spanish literature and a former Roman Catholic priest who had converted to Anglicanism. Calderon planned to study engineering, but he became so interested in drawing technical figures and diagrams that he changed his mind and devoted his time to art.
In 1850, he trained at Leigh's art school, London, then went to Paris to study under François-Édouard Picot in 1851. His first successful painting was called By the waters of Babylon, which was followed by a much more popular one called Broken Vows.
From the beginning he was inspired by the Pre-Raphaelites, and some of his work showed the detail, deep colors, and realistic forms that characterize the style. The artist Henry Stacy Marks was his friend and brother-in-law, and Calderon exhibited his portrait at the Royal Academy in 1872. Calderon became a leading member of the St John's Wood Clique, a group of artists interested in modern genre and historical subjects who were inspired, both artistically and socially by the Pre-Raphaelites. Historical, biblical, and literary themes were common in Calderon's later work. Ma