Sir William Blake Richmond (November 29, 1842 – February 11, 1921) was a prominent British painter, sculptor, and designer who played a significant role in the Arts and
Crafts movement.Queer Places:
St Paul's Cathedral, St. Paul's Churchyard, London EC4M 8AD, United Kingdom
University of Oxford, Oxford, Oxfordshire OX1 3PA
Chiswick Old Cemetery, Corney Rd, Chiswick, London W4 2RA, United Kingdom
Sir William Blake Richmond (November 29, 1842 – February 11, 1921) was a prominent British painter, sculptor, and designer who played a significant role in the Arts and
Crafts movement.
Born in Marylebone, London, on 29 November 1842, he was the son of the noted portrait painter George Richmond. He was named after his father's close friend, the poet and artist William Blake. Due to his health, he was largely home-schooled and mentored by John Ruskin.
Initially influenced by the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, his style shifted toward classicism and aestheticism after extensive travel in Italy and Greece. He was highly regarded for his portraiture—painting figures such as William Ewart Gladstone, Charles Darwin, and Robert Louis Stevenson—and his large-scale allegorical works.
His most enduring legacy is the extensive decorative mosaic cycle he designed for the quire and apse of St Paul's Cathedral, which he executed between 1891 and 1904 using innovative glass techniques.
He served as the Slade Professor of Fine Art at Oxford University (1878–1883) and was elected to the Royal Academy in 1895. Beyond art, he was a dedicated environmental activist who founded the Coal Smoke Abatement Society in 1898 to combat London’s severe air pollution.
He married Clara Jane Richards in 1867, and they had several children. He died at his home in Hammersmith on 11 February 1921.
THE BOWLERS. 1870. Sir William Blake Richmond. Oil on canvas, 650 x 2730 mm. Downing College in University Of Cambridge, United Kingdom.
In recent decades, art historians have re-examined his work through a queer lens. For instance, the Tate has identified his 1870 painting The Bowlers as being "open to homoerotic interpretation," citing the aestheticized portrayal of the male figures in that piece.
In November 1907 Robbie Ross gave a dinner party here to celebrate the 21st birthday of Vyvyan Holland, son of Oscar Wilde. The guests were: Sir William Richmond, R.A., Charles Hazelwood Shannon, Charles Ricketts, Henry James, Reginald Turner, William Rothenstein, Sir Coleridge Kennard, Ronald Firbank, More Adey and Cyril Holland, Wilde’s older son.
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