Albums of works by Thomas Churchyard and George Frost
We are excited about our recent purchase of these two albums (with very generous assistance from Art Friends Suffolk). The first, marked Harriet Churchyard (1836-1927), contains over 100 artworks by Thomas Churchyard (1798-1865) and George Frost (1744/45-1821), a prolific artist who documented Ipswich life and who was a collector of Thomas Gainsborough’s artwork as well as being a mentor to the young John Constable. The second, inscribed Laura Churchyard (1830-1891), contains artworks by Laura, Harriet and Ellen, all daughters of Thomas Churchyard. There are landscapes (local views of Woodbridge, Melton and the Suffolk coast), and portraits of Thomas and his children alongside those of other local characters.
The Museum holds a significant collection of artwork and literature relating to the ‘Woodbridge Wits’ who included Thomas Churchyard, a major collector of works by Constable. He was educated at Dedham Grammar and so was perhaps aware that a young Constable had attended the same school. Although his real interest was in landscape art, he trained as a solicitor and in 1822 began practising as a lawyer, breaking away from a family background in butchery and agriculture. He did not receive formal art training, but it’s possible that a friendship with the artist Perry Nursey (1799-1867) introduced him to a classical art collection and encouraged the pursuit of painting outdoors.
By 1829, Churchyard was exhibiting at the Norwich Society of Artists and the following year at the Society of British Artists. In 1831 two drawings from nature were shown in the annual exhibition at the Royal Academy. This spurred him on to pursue a full-time career as an artist and he moved to London, but unfortunately his artistic ambitions in the capital came to nothing so after 1833 he settled back in Suffolk.
In later life, with 10 children to support and facing increasing financial hardship, he was forced to sell parts of his beloved art collection. This caused him to assess the legacy of his own work amassed over years of sketching and painting, so he divided the pictures into 7 batches for each of his 7 daughters. He died of heart failure at the family home in Woodbridge on 19 August 1865, still surrounded by his art collection – but broke.
After Harriet’s death in 1927 there was a large sale of Churchyard’s pictures in Woodbridge. This released hundreds of his works, which the unscrupulous passed off as being by Constable. Our albums come directly from that sale and have been with the same Suffolk owners ever since. It is extremely rare to have intact albums compiled by Thomas and his children as many of them have been split up and dispersed.
Although the intrinsic nature of the albums may not make display straightforward, they can be used in future exhibitions and also digitised so that they can be added to the ArtUK website and made available on the Mansion’s new Bloomberg Connects app
