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Ford Maddox Brown

Born: Calais, France, 16 April 1821
Died: London, 6 October 1893
Nationality: English
Background: 

son of a ship purser

Studies: 

with Albert Gregorius (Bruges); with Pieter van Hanselaere (Ghent); with Baron Gustaf Wappers at Antwerp Academ

Career: 

1844-45 – competes unsuccessfully for Houses of Parliament commission; settles in London; begins exhibiting regularly at Royal Academy (RA)

1848 – Dante Gabriel Rossetti becomes Brown’s pupil; affiliates with Pre-Raphaelites

1858-60 – teaches at Working Men’s College (London)

1861 – founder-member of design firm Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Co

1863 – produces wood-engravings for Dalziels’ Bible Gallery

1865 –one-man show

1870 – Last of England appears in Art Journal

1878 – commissioned to execute wall paintings for the Great Hall, Manchester Town Hall

Travels 

Bruges; Ghent; Antwerp (1837-39); Paris; Basel (1845); Rome (1845)

Commissions from: 

T.E. Plint; George Rae; James Leathart

Important Artworks: 

Cordelia at the Bedside of Lear, 1849 (Tate, London)

Last of England, 1852-55 (Birmingham Art Gallery)