Frederick Sandys Biography | Oil Paintings

Anthony Frederick Sandys received his earliest art lessons from his artist father, Anthony Sands. He attended the Government School of Design at Norwich in 1846 when he was seventeen years old. His early studies show that he had a natural gift for careful and beautiful drawing. He won Royal Society of Arts medals in 1846 and 1847.

In 1851, Frederick Sandys moved to London and he had his first exhibit at the Royal Academy, where he would exhibit until 1886. He married Georgiana Creed in 1853, but this marriage only lasted three years, they never divorced, so he changed his name from Sands to Sandys in 1855. He had a long affair with a Gypsy woman Keomi Gray and had two daughters and two sons with her, she was a model both for him, Dante Gabriel Rossetti and for Simeon Solomon. In 1862 Frederick Sandys met actress Mary Emma Jones when she modeled for the oil painting Mary Magdalene. A relationship developed and he took her as his common-law wife for the rest of his life. She gave birth to a large number of children, 10 of whom were raised under the name of Neville. His work Proud Maisie made in 1867, was inspired by Mary, so much so that he made at least eleven versions of it by 1904.

Rossetti and Frederick Sandys became close friends, and from 1866 for a year, Sandys lived with Rossetti. Sandys’s works were profoundly influenced by those of Rossetti. He focused mainly on mythological subjects and portraits.

Art Movement: Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood.
Artists Influencing Frederick Sandys: Anthony Sands, Dante Gabriel Rossetti.
He Traveled To Holland, Belgium.
Painters Anthony Frederick Sandys Influenced: Emma Sandys.
Artist Biography compiled by Albert L. Mansour at The World's Artist, with text adapted from Wikipedia.