Stanhope Alexander Forbes Biography | Oil Painting Reproductions

Educated at Dulwich College near London, Stanhope Alexander Forbes studied art under John Sparkes who later taught at the South Kensington School of Art. After a period of poor health, Forbes was removed from Dulwich College and sent to Brussels to study under private teachers, this also gave him more time and opportunity to draw. After the end of the Franco-Prussian War, the Forbes returned to London and John Sparkes his previous professor, convinced Forbes's father of his son's creative ability and Stanhope Alexander Forbes then was able to attend the City & Guilds of London Art School.

Stanhope Alexander Forbes returned to Ireland for a few months to visit Dr. Andrew Melville, a family friend, and Queen's College professor, and received his first commission for a portrait. Back in London and at the age of 18, he received another commission for a portrait of a different doctor, for his daughter's portrait. In 1878 he attended the Royal Academy and studied with Sir Frederic Leighton and Sir John Millais.

Between 1880 to 1882 he then went to France to study at the private studio of Léon Bonnat in Clichy. Influenced by Forbes, Henry Herbert La Thangue who also attended Dulwich College, and the Royal Academy came to Paris, too, and studied at the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts. Arthur Hacker, another friend from the Royal Academy also joined Stanhope Alexander Forbes at Bonnat's workshop. In 1881 Forbes and La Thangue went to Brittany and painted en Plein air, like Jules Bastien-Lepage, which became the method that Forbes utilized all through his career.

Upon completion of his studies in France, Forbes came back to London and exhibited works he had made in Brittany at the Royal Academy and Royal Hibernian Academy shows of 1883.

In 1884 he moved to Newlyn in Cornwall, and he soon became a leading figure in the growing colony of artists. The artist colony received national attention with the Royal Academy exhibition of Stanhope Alexander Forbes's works in 1885. Henry Tate purchased The Health of the Bride, which is now at the Tate Gallery in London.

Art Movement: Realism.
Artists Influencing Alexander Forbes: Frederic Leighton, John Millais, Léon Bonnat, Jules Bastien-Lepage.
He Traveled To France, England, Belgium.
Painters Stanhope Alexander Forbes Influenced: Mabel Mary Spanton, Charles Hannaford.
Artist's Biography compiled by Albert L. Mansour at The World's Artist, with text adapted from Wikipedia.