Ford Madox Brown (1821-1893)

Although not a member of the Brotherhood, Ford Madox Brown was one of the leading figures in the development of Pre-Raphaelite painting. Born in Calais in 1821, the son of a ship's purser, he was a few years older than the young band of Pre-Raphaelites and he acted as a father figure and mentor to them. He contributed to 'The Germ' (1850), and was the only member of the circle with firsthand knowledge of the German 'Nazarene' painters, whose studios in Rome he had visited in the winter of 1845-1846. Brown was trained in Belgium and lived in Paris between 1837 and 1839. He submitted cartoons to the Palace of Westminster fresco competitions of 1844 and 1845. He married his cousin Elisabeth Bromley and settled in London, but she died in 1846, leaving an infant daughter.

During the years 1849 to 1853, Brown exhibited paintings with the Pre-Raphaelites, and was similarly criticised. Each of the three major paintings begun in 1852 - 'Work', 'The Last of England' and 'English Autumn Afternoon' - took years to complete, and Brown (who married Emma Hill in 1853) had to endure insecurity, depression and genuine hardship. A retrospective exhibition of his work in 1865 was a critical, if not financial, success. By 1865, Brown was designing for Morris, Marshall, Faulkner and Company. In 1878 when he also visited Birmingham to lecture, Brown received a commission for a set of frescoes for the new Town Hall at Manchester. This work occupied him from 1881 to 1893.