Lowes Cato Dickinson Scene From "Great Exhibition of 1851" London 1854

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Hand-colored steel engraving of a the Turkish section of the Great Exhibition of 1851 by Lowes Cato Dickinson (British, 1819-1908). … Read more Hand-colored steel engraving of a the Turkish section of the Great Exhibition of 1851 by Lowes Cato Dickinson (British, 1819-1908). In 1854, the Dickinson Brothers of New Bond St. published a collection of fifty-five large colored lithographs under the title of "Comprehensive Pictures of the Great Exhibition of 1851". The brightly colored lithographic prints were taken from a series of paintings commissioned by Prince Albert of the various displays and galleries on show at the Crystal Palace during the Great Exhibition of 1851. On verso is a tag with information about the piece. Presented in a new mat and modern gold frame. Image size: 15"H x 20"W

Dickinsons of New Bond Street, London, was a family firm of artists, lithographic print makers and publishers, which was established in the early 1820s by the stationer and print-seller Joseph Dickinson (1780-1849). Joseph Dickinson was the father of thirteen children and at least four of his sons went on to become painters, lithographic artists and photographers. Around 1844, Joseph Dickinson's eldest surviving son William Robert Dickinson (1815-1887), generally known as W. Robert or Robert Dickinson, joined his father as a junior partner in the family business and from this date the firm was styled "Dickinson & Son". Another son, Lowes Cato Dickinson (1819-1908) became an artist and during the 1840s he either drew portraits or created lithographic prints from the work of other portrait painters, which were published as prints by his father's firm. Lowes Cato Dickinson later became an established portrait artist, exhibiting 110 portraits in oils and crayons at the Royal Academy between 1848 and 1891.

After the death of Joseph Dickinson in 1849, the family firm was inherited by his three eldest surviving sons - William Robert Dickinson (1815-1887), Lowes Cato Dickinson (1819-1908) and Gilbert Bell Dickinson (1825-1908). Under the name of Dickinson Brothers, the three brothers continued to produce lithographic prints and portraits at their business premises at 114 New Bond Street, London.

Lowes Cato Dickinson was born in Kilburn, North London, on 27th November 1819, the fourth child and second eldest surviving son of Ann Rowden Carter and Joseph Dickinson, a stationer, print-seller and lithographic publisher. Lowes Cato Dickinson received his unusual first name courtesy of his paternal grandmother Mrs Jane Lowes Dickinson.
Lowes Cato Dickinson showed artistic talent at an early age and when he was in his early twenties he was producing lithographic portraits for his father's print publishing business in Old Bond Street, London.
Between 1850 and 1853 Lowes Cato Dickinson studied art in Italy under the patronage of Sir Robert Michael Laffan (1821-1882), an Irish military officer and engineer. Returning to England in 1853, Lowes Cato Dickinson took a studio in Portland Place, London. Whilst working as an artist in London, Lowes Cato Dickinson made the acquaintance of the artist Ford Madox Brown (1821-1893), the painter John Everett Millais (1829-1896), the artist and poet Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828-1882), the writer and art critic William Michael Rosetti (1829-1919) and other members of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood.

On 15th October 1857, Lowes Cato Dickinson married Margaret Ellen Williams (born 1826, London). The couple went on to produce a number of children, at least five of whom reached adulthood - Arthur Lowes Dickinson (born 8th August 1859, Marylebone, London), Margaret May Dickinson (born 1861, Marylebone, London), Goldsworthy Lowes Dickinson (born 6th August 1862, Marylebone, London), Hester Fanny Dickinson (born 1865, Hanwell, Middlesex) and Janet E. L. Dickinson (born 1866, Marylebone, London).

At the time of his marriage, Lowes Cato Dickinson was an established portrait painter. Lowes Dickinson went on to exhibit over a hundred oil paintings and crayon drawings at the Royal Academy between 1848 and 1891. When the 1861 census was taken, Lowes Dickinson was residing with his wife (Margaret) Ellen and their two young children at Langham Chambers, Portland Place, St Marylebone, London. On the census return, Lowes Dickinson is described as a forty-one year old "Artist & Painter".
In 1864, Lowes Dickinson, together with his wife Margaret Ellen and their three children, Arthur, Margaret and Goldsworthy, moved to the west London district of Hanwell in Middlesex. Hanwell was located in a rural area, and according to a contemporary description was set in "beautiful and picturesque scenery", yet it had its own railway station and was situated less than 8 miles west of Paddington. Lowes Dickinson resided with his family at Spring Cottage, Hanwell. A daughter, Hester Fanny Dickinson, was born in Hanwell during the first quarter of 1865. When the census was taken six years later on 2nd April 1871, Lowes Dickinson and his wife Margaret were residing at Spring Cottage, Hanwell with their five surviving children - Arthur (aged 11), Margaret May (aged 10), Goldsworthy (aged 8), Hester (aged 6) and Janet Dickinson (aged 4). On the census return Lowes Cato Dickinson is recorded as a fifty-one year old "Artist & Portrait Painter".

In 1879, Lowes Dickinson and his family moved into a newly-built house at No. 1, All Souls Place, Langham Place, Hanwell. When the census was carried out on 3rd April 1881, Lowes Cato Dickinson, described as a sixty-one year old "Artist-Painter" was up in Scotland, visiting the family of Archibald Campbell, a steel manufacturer of Barony, Lanark. At the time of the 1881 census, the artist's spouse, fifty-four year old Mrs 'Millie' Dickinson, described on the return as a "Portrait Painter's Wife", was recorded at 1, All Saints Place, Hanwell, with her three daughters. Both of Lowes Dickinson's sons were living away from home - Arthur Lowes Dickinson was an undergraduate studying Mathematics at King's College, Cambridge, and eighteen year old Goldsworthy Lowes Dickinson was boarding at Charterhouse School in Godalming, Surrey. See less