William Lamb Picknell

American painter

William Lamb Picknell

Born	(1853-10-23)October 23, 1853 Hinesburg, Vermont
Died	August 8, 1897(1897-08-08) (aged 43) Marblehead, Massachusetts
Nationality	American
Known for	Painter
Movement	Orientalist

William Lamb Picknell (October 23, 1853 – August 8, 1897) was an American painter of landscapes, coastal views, and figure genres, known for his rapid painting style. He was born in Hinesburg, Vermont and died in Marblehead, Massachusetts.

Life and career

Born in Hinesburg, Vermont, William was the son of Ellen Maria Upham and the Reverend William Lamb Picknell, a Baptist minister, both of New England families. William had a younger brother George W. Picknell^[1] born in 1864. In July, 1868, the summer following his father's death, the Picknell family moved to Chelsea, Massachusetts.^[2]

He began his career by working in a frame shop while living with relatives in Boston, where he took lessons from George Loring Brown.^[3] In 1872, he travelled to Europe where he trained with George Inness in Rome (alongside the master's son and Douglas Volk)^[4] and Jean-Léon Gérôme in Paris (1874–75), and also received some informal training from Robert Wylie in Brittany.^[5] Inspired by the gardens and artist colonies at Pont-Aven and Concarneau, Picknell and friend Hugh Bolton Jones founded a similar botanical artist's colony called "Squam" at Annisquam, Massachusetts on the leeward side of Cape Ann.^[3] The colony was thriving in the 1890s with Emil Carlsen and Robert Vonnoh in residence.^[6]

Throughout the 1880s, he primarily lived Waltham, Massachusetts, but frequently travelled abroad; spending two winters in England and also visiting other parts of the US, including Florida and California. He married Gertrude Powers in 1889 and the couple had one.^[3] He was living at Moret-sur-Loing, on the edge of the Forest of Fontainebleau, for most of the 1890s, but often spent the winters in the south of France. He returned to Massachusetts in 1897 following the death of his only child.^[3]^[5] He died of heart failure in Marblehead on August 8, 1897.^[7]

A memorial exhibition of his life work was held the next year in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.^[3] In 1900, Fifth Avenue Art Galleries sold 60 of his paintings for a total of $16,595,^[8] approx. $620,000 in 2024.[1] In 2006, his "Vue de Provence" sold at Sotheby's for $45,000, and other works routinely sell for over $20,000.^[9]^[10]

Notable works

The Road to Concarneau 1880, Corcoran Gallery
Lobster Fisherman 1882
Lande de Kerran, Finistere 1877
Morning on the Loing at Moret c. 1895, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Banks of the Loing c. 1895 at the Metropolitan Museum of Art
View 5 works at CGFA

Honors

Honorable Mention, Paris Salon, 1880 (The Road to Concarneau)
Member, Society of American Artists
Associate, National Academy of Design
Member, Society of British Artists

References

^ "Picknell, George W. (1864–1943)"
^ Rabb, L. W., "William Lamb Picknell: An American Emersonian Artist"
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Dearinger, David Bernard (2004). Paintings and Sculpture in the Collection of the National Academy of Design: 1826-1925. Hudson Hills. p. 97. ISBN 978-1-55595-029-3.
^ Bulger, Doreen; Spassky, Natalie (1980). American Paintings in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art. p. 287. ISBN 978-0-87099-244-5.
^ ^a ^b "Picknell, William Lamb (1853–97)", in The Oxford Dictionary of American Art and Artists
^ Love, Richard H.; Peters, Carl William (1999). Carl W. Peters: American Scene Painter from Rochester to Rockport. University Rochester Press. p. 21. ISBN 978-1-58046-024-8.
^ "Death of Painter Picknell". The Buffalo Evening Times. Marblehead, Massachusetts. August 9, 1897. p. 1. Retrieved May 23, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
^ The Art Interchange. Vol. 44. Art Interchange Company. 1900. pp. 65–67.
^ "Lot #92, Southeby's Auction". 2006.
^ "Lot #49, Sotheby's Auction". 2019.