Arthur (James) Lewis (1824-1901), husband of Kate Terry, and grandfather of John Gielgud. It appears he was also a painter and a musician, with a connection to J M Whistler.
Arthur James Lewis was a London landscape and portrait painter, and illustrator.
Between 1848 and 1893 Lewis was active as an exhibitor in London at the Royal Academy, British Institution, Grosvenor Gallery and New Gallery, as well as at the Walker Gallery in Liverpool and Manchester City Art Gallery. A typical work is his 'Far Away on the Hills - Scene in Arran', exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1881. Lewis and Whistler were members of the Burlington Fine Arts Club in the 1860s. In 1861 both Lewis and Whistler contributed etchings to 'Passages from Modern English Poets' (London: Day & Son, 1862). Lewis contributed A Spring Morning, Spring in the Meadows, The Mountain Stream, The Cornfield and The Path through the Forest (Plates 20, 20, 23, 36 and 39 respectively). Arthur Lewis is listed as a founding member of the Arts Club from 1863 to 1901. However, his dates are given as 1828-1901, with his date of birth given as 1828, not 1824. He is described as a promoter of the Junior Etching Club of which Whistler was an early member.
See: Wood, Christopher, Dictionary of Victorian Painters, Woodbridge, 1971; Johnson, J., and A. Gruetzner, Dictionary of British Artists 1880-1940, Woodbridge, 198; Records of The Arts Club, London.
His wife, Kate Terry (21 April 1844 – 6 January 1924) was an English actress. Elder sister of the actress Ellen Terry, she was born into a theatrical family, made her debut when still a child, became a leading lady in her own right, and left the stage in 1867 to marry. In retirement she commented that she was 20 years on the stage, yet left it when she was only 23.[1] Her grandson was Sir John Gielgud.
After her farewell performances, she left the stage to marry the wealthy haberdasher and silk merchant Arthur James Lewis (of the firm Lewis & Allenby). The couple had four daughters, the eldest of whom was also named Kate (the mother of Gielgud). The youngest, Mabel Terry-Lewis, became an actress. Terry made two later appearances on stage: first in 1898, in Stuart Ogilvie's The Master, with John Hare and her daughter Mabel, and in June 1906 she played Ursula in a scene from Much Ado About Nothing at the gala stage celebration of her sister Ellen's jubilee.
Terry and her husband lived in considerable style in Moray Lodge in Kensington, London, where he hosted the Moray Minstrels, until Lewis lost all his money. After that, in Gielgud's words, "my grandmother lived very simply and rather resentfully in an ugly little house in West Cromwell Road, and she had no grand clothes and did not give parties any more. She played bridge and had paying guests. This was a sad ending to her career but she never grumbled or groused. She must have hated being out of the picture, even though many people still recognized her and paid court to her.
Sold at Chiswick Auctions, 1/12/2021, lot 21.
Assessments
Provenance
Image description
Portrait of a man, Arthur Lewis, sitting in front of a painted backdrop.
Subject name
Lewis, Arthur
Inscription
MR CLAUDET 107 REGENT ST. QUADRANT
stamped in gold on case
Great Uncle Arthur Lewis for Kate Terry grandfather of John Geilgud.
A privately owned collection acquired over the past few decades.
Creator
Name
Claudet, Antoine François Jean
notes
„Claudet betrieb sein Studio in London, war aber gebürtiger Franzose. Seit 1827 lebte er an der Themse, wo er sich als Importeur von technischem Glas (Scheiben und Glasstürze) einen Namen machte. Auf Anraten seines Freundes Lerebours nahm er 1839 Kontakt zu Daguerre auf. Er erlernte bei ihm die Technik und erwarb eine Lizenz für England. Dann importierte er Daguerreotypien nach London, wo sie als erste Lichtbilder am 15. Oktober 1839 dem Königspaar und im März 1840 der staunenden Öffentlichkeit in den Räumen der Royal Society vorgestellt wurden. Kurz nach Richard Beard eröffnete Claudet im Juni 1841 in London ein Atelier. Standort war ein Glashaus auf dem Dach der „Adelaide Gallery“. 1851 konnte Claudet aufgrund guten Geschäftsverlaufes in der Londoner Regent Street 107 ein neues Studio, den „Temple of Photographic“, einweihen.“ (Jochen Voigt: Spiegelbilder. Europäische und amerikanische Porträtdaguerreotypie 1840-1860, Chemnitz 2007, S. 127.) Sir Charles Barry, der das Parlament in Westminster errichtet hatte, baute Claudets neues Etablissement im Renaissancestil aus. (J.V.)
Royal Warrant granted on the 9th of July 1855.
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