Edouard Onslow 1830-1904

Painting which was cultivated by several members of the Onslow family, has been a very strong art within that dynasty during the 19th century. The composer’s brother, Arthur Onslow (1788- 1876), has left us a great number of drawings, oils, paintings and lithographs. The children or the second brother, Maurice Onslow (1786-1834), took after the family’s artistic gifts. Delphine and Gabrielle cultivated music, literature and sculpture. The family’s youngest child, Edouard Onslow (1830-1904) first tried a career in the army. Because of a poor health and maybe for lack of conviction, he gave it up quickly to devote himself to painting. He was a student at the “École des Beaux Arts” in 1853 and Léon Cogniet, a reputed history and portrait painter, was his master. He attended Ingres’s, Vernet’s, Delaroche’s and Delacroix’s studios. He was allowed to take the “Prix de Rome” competition but quite suddenly gave it up for an unknown reason. He settled for good in Auvergne, where he devoted himself to the most diverse pictorial genres : history paintings, religious paintings, landscapes, genre paintings and above all portraits. His work’s major interest lies in his daily life scenes. In very poor health after a former tuberculosis, he also suffered from rheumatism and from blindness, which forced him to give up painting in 1901. He died on November 28 1904 in Saint-Flour in utter solitude and destitution.

In French:A propos de quatre oeuvre d'Édouard Onslow

Bibliography:

• Édouard Onslow : un peintre en Auvergne au XIXe siècle. - Catalogue des expositions de Blesle et Saint-Flour 2004. - Clermont-Ferrand, Un Deux...Quatre Éditions, 2004.
• Pierre BALME, “Une famille d’artistes en Auvergne : Les Onslow”, L’Auvergne littéraire, artistique & historique, XII/7, 1er cahier, 1935, p. 5-14.
• Françoise DAUDE, “Édouard Onslow : peintre auvergnat”, Bulletin de l’Association George Onslow, n°2, 1995-96.
• “Édouard Onslow, 1830-1904 : rétrospective de l’œuvre peint”, Catalogue de l’exposition de Blesle (Haute-Loire) Salle abbatiale – Août 1994.
• Josanne POTHIER, “Les attaches blesloises du peintre Édouard Onslow”, Almanach de Brioude, 1975, p. 133-156.