Clarkson Stanfield: England’s Cherished Scene Painter

Nicknamed the ‘leader of our English Realists’ by 19th-century art critic John Ruskin, Clarkson Stanfield’s dramatic landscapes gained widespread admiration.

Stanfield's seascapes caught the attention of British Monarch King William IV. "Mount St Michael, Cornwall," 1830, by Clarkson Frederick Stanfield. Oil on canvas. National Gallery of Victoria. Public Domain

While thumbing through an old volume of Charles Dickens stories, my attention was caught by an exquisitely rendered illustration: the woodcut of a belfry and doorway from the “The Chimes.” At the bottom of the illustration was the tiny signature by C. Stanfield R. A.

“The Old Church” by Clarkson Stanfield from “The Chimes,” 1845, by Charles Dickens. Internet Archive. Public Domain