Social Victorians/People/James Archer

Also Known As

 * Family name: Archer
 * James Archer
 * VIAF 73701377.
 * Signature on his paintings:
 * "[M]ost of Archer's paintings [were] signed with his monogram, JA transfixed by an arrow" (Soden): [img here]
 * Sometimes he apparently signed with his last name: [img here]

Demographics

 * Nationality: Scots

Residences

 * Born in Edinburgh
 * 21 Lower Phillimore Gardens, Kensington; living there in December 1868, when infant William Kinglake died
 * 7 Cromwell Place, South Kensington (1882 - )
 * Milford, Surrey (1890s)
 * Shean, his home in Haslemere, Surrey (by 1903)
 * Buried in Haslemere (Soden)

Family

 * Andrew Archer, dentist
 * Ann Cunningham Gregory Archer (Meldrum)
 * 1) Sister
 * 2) Andrew Archer (wrote history of Canada, 1876) (Meldrum)
 * 3) Georgina Archer (1827–1882) (Soden) ("founder of the Victoria Institute, Berlin, and tutoress of the German Emperor William II, Prince Henry, and Princess Charlotte of Prussia"; Meldrum)
 * 4) James Archer (10 June 1822 - 3 September 1904)


 * James Archer (10 June 1822 - 3 September 1904)
 * Jane Clerk (Lawson?; daughter of James Lawson) ( - 26 January 1892 ["Deaths (1892)]")
 * 1) William Kinglake Archer, (12 December 1868 - 17 December 1868)
 * 2) Amela [?], married 5 August 1882 ("Marriages [1882].") [not clear how many daughters or when Amela was born]
 * 3) daughter (25 September 1871 - )
 * 4) daughter

Organizations

 * Smashers Sketchers Club, "late 1840s," in Edinburgh (Soden)
 * Royal Scottish Academy, from 1850
 * City of Edinburgh Volunteers (Artists' company), 2nd Lieutenant, 1859–May 1860 (artillery unit formed in case of invasion from France) (Soden)
 * Auld Lang Syne Club, London (largely made up of members of the former Smashers Club), 1863 (Soden)
 * London Scottish Artists, London, 1880s and 1890s, secretary. "This body of expatriate Scots met each year at a dinner held to coincide with the Royal Scottish Academy's banquet at the opening of each year's annual exhibition" (Soden).

Timeline
1842, Archer first exhibited a painting, The Child St John in the Wilderness, at the Royal Scottish Academy.

1849, Archer exhibited his first historical painting at the RSA, The Last Supper.

1850, Archer was elected an Associate in the Royal Scottish Academy.

1853, 1 August, James Archer and Jane Clerk married.

1857, 1 June, Monday, an exhibition opened "at the Gallery of Mr. Walesby, 5, Waterloo Place" and ran throughout June in which Archer's The Shadow on the Path was hung ("Royal Association for the Promotion of the Fine Arts in Scotland," p. 2, Col. D).

1858, Archer was elected an Academician in the Royal Scottish Academy.

1859, 9 November, Wednesday, among the "Militia and Rifle Volunteers" is the "Edinburgh City Artillery Militia - William Pounsett, gent., to be second lieutenant, vice Davidson, promoted. 1st Edinburgh (City) Artillery Volunteers - Joseph Noel Paton, Esq., to be captain; John Faed, Esq., to be first lieutenant; James Archer, gent., to be second lieutenant." ("Naval and Military")

1862, the Archers moved to London.

1867, 24 August, Saturday, Archer exhibited (at least) one painting in the Birmingham Society of Artists; the "private view" was on Saturday ("Birmingham Society of Artists").

1868, 17 December, Archer's infant son William Kinglake Archer died ("Deaths [1868]").

1870, 21 February, Monday, the Morning Post reported that a "Mr. James Archer" had arrived at the Grosvenor Hotel, Buckingham Palace-Road ("The Grosvenor Hotel").

1879, June 10, Tuesday, James Archer's painting hung at the Royal Academy, A Sacrifice to Dionysus, did not get a good review ("The Royal Academy [PMG 1879]").

1880, Archer returned to England from India ("The Late James Archer, R.S.A.").

1880, Archer's portrait of Henry Irving as Charles 1 was hung in exhibit at the Fine Arts Gallery, received well.

1880, 31 January, The Graphic reported that on this day an exhibit opened at the Scottish Royal Academy; Archer was "represented by his 'Sacrifice to Dionysius' and his 'Portrait of Herr Joachim'" ("Royal Scottish Academy").

1880, 14 February, Saturday, Archer attended a 100th Performance of the Merchant of Venice and dinner at the Beefsteak Club hosted by Henry Irving, with lots of luminaries, including Oscar Wilde and several lords ("Merchant of Venice").

1882, 5 August, Saturday, Archer's daughter Amela [?] was married at St. Mary Abbotts: TWEEDLE-ARCHER, — August 5, at St. Mary Abbotts, Kensington, by the Rev. Charles Collins, M.A., uncle of the bridegroom, George Straton Tweedle, youngest son of the late Alexander George Tweedle, Madras Civil Service, and grandson of Alexander Tweedle, M.D., F.R.S., Bute Lodge, Twickenham, and A?ela daughter of James Archer, R.S.A., 7, Cromwell- [place, S.W. ??] (Marriages [1882]")

1884, Archer visited America, painting Andrew Carnegie.

1886, Archer visited India (Soden).

1886, 1 September, Wednesday, a letter from Archer was quoted in the Pall Mall Gazette, on the subject of reform at the Royal Academy: MR. JAMES ARCHER, R.S.A. I think the chief difficulty of the case is the clear-seeing of the twofold position of the Academy — first, its actual position as a private body administering its own laws; and next, the position that time and circumstances have given it — a society so well known and acknowledged as the chief representa- tive of the art of the country that it has become what may be called a public body. The greater number of the members seem to cling to their privileges as belonging to a private body, and which they can with reason maintain. Yet if the subject in dispute could be again submitted in a friendly spirit, showing that the giving up of this right of sending eight works (which, after all, very few of the members ever take advantage of) would be rather on their part a recognizing and taking up the high position that time and circumstances have put on them, and, would be in the true sense an increase rather than a decrease in the dignity of the Academy, then I have strong hopes that the artists outside, and that section of the public interested in the subject, would see a solution of the difficulty in the near future. When one hears that several distinguished members, with the President himself at their head, are in favour of this reform, and when we remember how large a proportion of the best art of the country has come from the Academy, these facts should be taken as an additional argument in favour of the subject being approached in no hostile spirit. Should the same crisis ever occur in Scotland in connection with the Royal Scottish Academy, I feel I should recognize the changed conditions that time brings, and vote for the curtailment of our privileges. ("The Reform of the Royal Academy")

1892, 26 January, Tuesday, the "beloved wife" of a James Archer is listed as having died in the Morning Post ("Deaths [1892]").

1894, 27 October, Saturday, a James Archer is listed among people who submitted a photograph to The Graphic for a Supplement reproducing photographs taken by amateur photographers. The reproductions and paper for the Supplement will be similar to those used for the Supplement issued by The Graphic of reproductions from the exhibition at the Royal Academy each spring. ("To Amateur Photographers." The Graphic Saturday, 27 October 1894: 5. [Behind paywall: http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000057/18941027/004/0005])

1896, Archer retired from the Royal Scottish Academy ("The Late James Archer, R.S.A.").

Works

 * 1842, The Child John in the Wilderness (Scottish Academy)
 * 1846, The Messiah (Scottish Academy)
 * 1849, The Condemned Souls Crossing the River Acheron (Scottish Academy)
 * 1849, The Last Supper (Scottish Academy)
 * 1850, Douglas Tragedy (Scottish Academy)
 * 1850, Mary Magdalene at the Sepulchre (Scottish Academy)
 * 1852, The Mistletoe Bough (Scottish Academy)
 * 1852, Burger's Leonora (Scottish Academy)
 * 1853, Hamlet (Scottish Academy)
 * 1854, Our Portrait of a Young Victorian Woman
 * 1854, Rosalind and Celia (diploma work for the Scottish Academy)
 * 1855, Thomas de Quincey and His Family (reprinted in 1889 in "A New Edition of De Quincey")
 * 1856, Half Portrait of Captain William Fordyce Blair (https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot/james-archer-scottish-1824-1904-half-length-por-363-c-ecdf78c481)
 * 1856, The Last Supper (Scottish Academy)
 * 1856, Scene from The Merchant of Venice (http://www.artnet.com/artists/james-archer/a-scene-from-the-merchant-of-venice-eQukGbHCJ_cU_Y0kL1iK7Q2)
 * 1857, In Time of War ("The Late James Archer, R.S.A.")
 * 1857, Robert Kerss, gamekeeper and fisherman at Mounteviot (http://www.artnet.com/artists/james-archer/robert-kerss-gamekeeper-and-fisherman-at-sBWGlblRmhvBuhd_vDf4qg2)
 * 1857, The Shadow on the Path
 * 1858, Hidden Sorrow ("The Late James Archer, R.S.A.")
 * 1859, Portrait of David Rothney Keith (http://www.artnet.com/artists/james-archer/portrait-of-david-rothney-keith-_nxbwPM2C7rXpYAZydHFag2)
 * 1860, Summertime, Gloucestershire (http://goldenagepaintings.blogspot.com/2008/04/james-archer-summertime-gloucestershire.html)
 * 1860, Queen Guinevere (https://www.wikigallery.org/wiki/painting_133128/James-Archer/Queen-Guinevere)
 * 1861, La Mort d'Arthur (Scottish Academy)
 * 1861, Playing at Queen with a Painter's Wardrobe (R.A.)
 * 1863, The Sancgreall, King Arthur Healed of His Grievous Wound (https://www.wikigallery.org/wiki/painting_274888/James-Archer/The-Sancgreall)
 * 1864, The Adoration
 * 1864, How the Little Lady Stood to Velasquez (R.A.)
 * 1864, The Novice (http://www.artnet.com/artists/james-archer/the-novice-5RsEfcjNU49Ux1cLeUqoLg2)
 * 1864, Woman Reading (same image as 1869 Scholarly Pursuits; only one of these is right) (http://www.artnet.com/artists/james-archer/woman-reading-Q_bFuBo98KSJUJQo1knJMg2)
 * 1865, My Great Grandmother (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:James_Archer#mediaviewer/File:My_great_grandmother.jpg)
 * 1865, Old Maid: Maggie, You're Cheatin' (R.A.)
 * 1865, Rose Bradwardine: "Other portraits of merit, many of them by little-known painters, and the more deserving of the critic's and the public's notice for that reason, are ... James Archer's 'Rose' (127) ..." ("Exhibition of the Royal Academy. Concluding Notice."). (http://www.artnet.com/artists/james-archer/rose-bradwardine-0SCVdAxgFvQtmtQCIg-ywA2)
 * 1865, Sing Me a Sweet Song or The Girl with the Canary (http://www.artnet.com/artists/james-archer/sing-me-a-sweet-song-6ohir3vL5RlwSPudFHP5ZA2)
 * 1866, Emelye
 * 1866, Hearts Are Trumps (http://www.artnet.com/artists/james-archer/hearts-are-trumps-xWDlxV9Rjr3fupAf9GLicA2)
 * 1867, Evening, Fern Gathering (http://www.artnet.com/artists/james-archer/evening-fern-gathering-6AnOog072Zsed-jZSMl21Q2)
 * 1867, In the Time of Charles I: Portraits of the Children of W. Walkinshaw, Esq. (R.A.)
 * 1867, The Introduction, exhibited at the Royal Scottish Academy, reviewed Saturday, 22 February 1868, by the Illustrated Times: "An Introduction" and "Henry II. and Fair Rosamund," by Mr. James Archer, R.S.A., are well painted; but we must confess to have seen this clever artist appear to greater advantage on previous occasions ("Exhibition of the Royal Scottish Academy. Edinburgh").
 * 1869, Against Cromwell (R.A.; "The Late James Archer, R.S.A.")
 * 1869, Longing (http://goldenagepaintings.blogspot.com/2008/04/james-archer-summertime-gloucestershire.html)
 * 1869, Scholarly Pursuits (http://www.artnet.com/artists/james-archer/scholarly-pursuits-sxTaQ1sT2NxcTqMdoPTMyg2)
 * 1870, The Picnic (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:James_Archer#mediaviewer/File:The_Picnic_by_James_Archer_(1870).jpg)
 * 1870, Sir Patrick Spens ("The Late James Archer, R.S.A.")
 * 1871, Colonel Sykes, M.P. (R.A.)
 * 1871, Merlin and Lancelot, an Incident from 'La Mort d'Arthur'
 * 1871, Sir George Otto Trevelyan (1838–1928), 2nd Bt, Aged 32 (oil on canvas) (http://www.nationaltrustcollections.org.uk/object/584395)
 * 1872, Sir Henry Irving (1838–1905), as Mathias in "The Bells" ("The Late James Archer, R.S.A.")
 * 1873, "Henry Irving (1838–1905), as Charles I (Dobson)
 * 1873, "Portrait of a Gentlemen (Said to Be G. A. Fernley, J.P.), Standing by a Gate with His Dog (http://www.artnet.com/artists/james-archer/portrait-of-a-gentleman-said-to-be-ga-fernley-jp-Jh66QW2lFOC4Djussc7eyQ2)
 * 1873, "Portrait of Sir John St George, General GCB (https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot/james-archer-rsa,-scottish-1823-1904,-portrait-639-c-408d697520)
 * 1874, "The Fair Beauty and the Dark One (http://www.artnet.com/artists/james-archer/the-fair-beauty-and-the-dark-one-02ODrFwu58urDDQxeYVuFw2)
 * 1874, "Portrait of Edward Denis De Vitre Esq, M.D., First Chairman of the Central Committee, seated in his library
 * 1875, "Henry Irving as Macbeth
 * 1875, "A Lady with a Moorish Shawl, Mrs. Archer (http://www.artnet.com/artists/james-archer/a-lady-with-a-moorish-shawl-mrs-archer-yo9lUHiTlzA52RAIsy8pfw2)
 * 1875, "Portrait of a Lady in Black with a Dog (https://www.art-prints-on-demand.com/a/archer-james/portrait-of-a-lady-in-bla.html)
 * 1877, "A Portrait of Miss Rose Fenwick as a Child
 * 1877, "Which Hand Will You Take? (http://www.artnet.com/artists/james-archer/which-hand-will-you-take-7oGAozloq3hEHm04SmkPxg2)
 * 1880, the summer issue of the 1880 Graphic published a full-page, color illustration based on a portrait of the Royal Family, said to be "after Archer" (https://www.rct.uk/collection/605802/the-royal-family-1880 and http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Royal_Family_In_1880.jpg or http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Royal_Family_In_1880.jpg#mediaviewer/File:Royal_Family_In_1880.jpg).
 * 1881, The Parting of Robert Burns and Highland or The Betrothal of Robert Burns and Highland Mary
 * 1883, Miss Archer (https://www.wikigallery.org/wiki/painting_334098/James-Archer/Miss-Archer)
 * 1883, Peter the Hermit Preaching the First Crusade "In a large picture companion to this [J. D. Linton's The Surrender], "Dieu le Veult" (678), Mr. James Archer has represented Peter the Hermit preaching the First Crusade to an excited assemblage of men, women, and children in the market place of an Italian town. The figures are for the most part well designed and firmly painted, but the composition is rather confused, and the prevailing colour hot and feverish." ("The Royal Academy. III.") (http://www.artnet.com/artists/james-archer/peter-the-hermit-preaching-the-first-crusade-TxqAK-gEpgx3qWd5KQdboQ2)
 * 1884, "In the Second Century. You? A Christian!
 * 1884, "Andrew Carnegie [American trip] ("The Late James Archer, R.S.A.")
 * 1884, "James G. Elaine [American trip]
 * 1885, "Portrait of a Lady
 * 1885, "Thomas Addis Emmett, M.D., LL.D. (https://collections.nlm.nih.gov/catalog/nlm:nlmuid-101414439-img)
 * 1887?, "John William Ramsay (1847–1887), 13th Earl of Dalhousie (trip to India?) ("The Late James Archer, R.S.A." says 1889?)
 * 1887, "Lady Dufferin (trip to India?)
 * 1887, "Lord Clandeboye (trip to India?)
 * 1887, "Sir Charles Macgregor (posthumous portrait; trip to India?)
 * 1888, "At the Entrance to the Temple
 * 1888, "A Woman in a Red Sari Standing in a Doorway
 * 1889?, Lady Leng [after Archer's 1889 return to the U.K.] ("The Late James Archer, R.S.A.")
 * 1889?, Sir John Leng [after Archer's 1889 return to the U.K.; presented by the employees of the Dundee Advertiser] ("The Late James Archer, R.S.A.")
 * 1891, "Battle of the Centaurs or Centaurs (http://www.artnet.com/artists/james-archer/battle-of-the-centaurs-ZoW565DBuXfCw16qfbqPFw2)
 * 1896, "Arabs Resting Beside a Camel (watercolor, pencil)
 * 1896, "Desert Scene with Two Arabs, Boy and Camels
 * 1897, "The Death of King Arthur (http://goldenagepaintings.blogspot.com/2008/04/james-archer-summertime-gloucestershire.html)
 * 1899, "Portrait of G. B. Buckton Esq.
 * 1902, "The Ceremonial Dance
 * Alexander Smith (1830–1867), Poet and Writer
 * Mrs. Arthur Morse Reid, "a refined 'exercise in brown,'" exhibited at the R.A. in 1886 ("The Royal Academy")
 * The Artist and His Muse with the Signature 'J. Archer' on the Mount
 * Caroline Philips (1849–1928), Lady Trevelyan with Her Son Charles (1870–1958), Later Sir Charles Philips Trevelyan, 3rd Bt
 * Children Playing a Game (or Children Playing Games) (http://www.artnet.com/artists/james-archer/children-playing-a-game-3I7x4EkGDODLFW88bDnKzQ2)
 * Classical Subject
 * Doctor Joseph Joachim (1831–1907), Violinist, Conductor, Composer and Teacher. In 1878, The Graphic mentions this portrait and Archer as one of the: more widely known men, more exclusively known as portrait painters ("Royal Academy and Grosvenor Gallery of Portraiture"). The Graphic also reports this portrait hung in January 1880, at the Royal Scottish Academy ("Royal Scottish Academy").
 * The First Rose of Summer (https://www.wikigallery.org/wiki/painting_274889/James-Archer/The-first-rose-of-Summer)
 * The Flower Pickers (http://www.artnet.com/artists/james-archer/the-flower-pickers-11qGJ8Zrv1htICd-QAsyDw2)
 * George Anderson Lawson (1832–1904), Sculptor
 * George William Fox (1807–1878), 9th Lord Kinnaird, KT
 * Gypsy Girl
 * Highland Moorland
 * How Sir Launcelot Carried Queen Guinivere to Her Tomb
 * Indian Water Carrier
 * James Archer (1822–1904), Artist, Self Portrait
 * James Taylor (1808–1892), JP, of Wigan
 * James Young Simpson (1811–1870)
 * Jeannette Emmet
 * John Francis Ure (1820–1883)
 * John Maclaughlan (1838–1907), Chief Librarian of Dundee Free Library (1873–1907)
 * John MacWhirter (1839–1911), Landscape Painter
 * John Pettle (1839–1893), Artist
 * King Henry II and Fair Rosamund, exhibited at the Royal Scottish Academy, reviewed Saturday, 22 February 1868, by the Illustrated Times: "An Introduction" and "Henry II. and Fair Rosamund," by Mr. James Archer, R.S.A., are well painted; but we must confess to have seen this clever artist appear to greater advantage on previous occasions ("Exhibition of the Royal Scottish Academy. Edinburgh").
 * Lady Gitiard, "Mr. James Archer — one of the most accepted pourtrayers of the more graceful dames and damsels of English society — displays, notably in No. 264 ("Lady Gitiard"), his special sense of the necessity for grace of treatment. Whether this present design of the tall slight figure, dark, with tippet, and a few red berries held in the hand, catching a sharp light, is indeed a veracious likeness we do not know. But it has the air of truth and is certainly (as far, especially, as the accessories are concerned) one of the best pieces of painting wo have witnessed from this facile brush." ("The Royal Academy. Second Notice.")
 * Lady Jane Beaufort, shown in Manchester, private viewing Friday, 31 August 1860, one of the 14 mentioned in this list: "Amongst the English pictures many struck us as being worthy of examination" ("Manchester Fine Art Exhibition").
 * Lake Scene with Boat (watercolor on paper)
 * "Mary Carrie"
 * "Misses Agnes and Margaret Perlgal"
 * Mrs. George Tweedie [Archer's last work] ("The Late James Archer, R.S.A.")
 * "Sir David Murray (1849–1933), Artist"
 * "Sir William Quiller Orchardson (1832–1910), Artist"
 * "The Mystic Sword Excalibur" (Cooper)
 * "Portrait Busts of Two Women" drawn on stone (https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/424193)
 * a different "Portrait of a Lady" (c.f., 1885) (https://www.wikigallery.org/wiki/painting_274890/James-Archer/Portrait-of-a-lady)
 * another different "Portrait of a Lady," this one "in a blue lace-trimmed dress, holding a fan and a glass of wine, in an interior"
 * "Portrait Mrs Elizabeth Jackson, daughter of George Seton" (charcoal on paper) (https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot/james-archer-rsa-1823-1904-portrait-mrs-557-c-fd4725ee6d)
 * Portrait of a Woman with Bonnet (pastel on paper)
 * "Professor John Stuart Blackie (1809–1895), HRSA"
 * "Rastande Kvinna" (http://www.artnet.com/artists/james-archer/rastande-kvinna-OEOmNbnRNQIkoypxVbr0ZA2)
 * "Samuel Cartwright (1815–1891), FRCS, LDS"
 * "Serenade" (http://www.artnet.com/artists/james-archer/serenade-fJe3YRRJ8QXlGSBph_Rtqg2)
 * Son And Daughter of John Buchanan Hamilton of Leny, Bardowie and Spittal (pencil and chalk on paper)
 * "Sir Daniel Macnee (1806–1882), PRSA"
 * "Stagecoach with Horses and Holsters" (watercolor on paper) (https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot/a-victorian-watercolour-stagecoach-with-horses-233-c-dbda83f070)
 * "St. Agnes of the Early Christian Martyrs"
 * "Thomas Alexander Graham (1840–1906), Artist"
 * "Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881)"
 * "Thomas de Quincey (1785–1859)"
 * "William Ewart Lockhart (1846–1900), Artist"
 * Two Sisters (pastel on paper, oval)
 * William Phillips, portrait ("Presentation")
 * "Woman Resting"
 * The Worship of Dionysus/A Sacrifice to Dionysus: To give an approximate idea of the amount of mediocrity and artistic incompetence exhibited on these walls would be as distressing as it would be impossible within reasonable limits of space. Neither is there any need for such cleaning of the Augaean stables. In a country teeming with untutored or half-tutored love of art the production and the appreciation of such works is perhaps inevitable; but the critic may pass by with a "Non ragionam di lor." A few extreme cases, however, ought to be adverted to. There is, for instance, the class of pretentious imitations, less numerous here than at the Grosvenor Gallery, but by no means absent. Mr. James Archer's "A Sacrifice to Dionysus" (137) - a number of youths and maidens dancing - is a reminiscence, and a very weak reminiscence, of Mr. Tadema's manner. It is hung high; it ought not to have been hung at all. ("The Royal Academy [PMG 1879]").

Questions and Notes

 * 1) For the portrait of the Royal family: http://www.royalcollection.org.uk/collection/605802/the-royal-family-1880 And here's the Wikimedia image: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Royal_Family_In_1880.jpg

Unrelated James Archers?

 * Various James Archers were convicted of crimes in the 1850s through the 1880s.
 * In 1858, a James Archer was involved in a case in which arsenic was introduced into the ingredients of lozenges and sold in Bradford, making 150 people ill and killing 15.
 * A James Archer, woolen draper and clothier, was active and bankrupt in the 1860s in London.
 * A Rev. James Archer Spurgeon was active in the 1870s.
 * An actor James Archer was performing in the 1880s and 1890s in London.
 * A James Archer was a baker in London in the 1880s.