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Prinsep, Val(entine Cameron)
(b Calcutta, 14 Feb 1838; d London, 11 Nov 1904). English painter. The son of Henry Thoby Prinsep, a wealthy Indian civil servant, and Sara (née Pattle), he was encouraged to become a painter by George Frederick Watts (his mother’s house guest from 1850 to 1875) and began his training with Watts in 1856. In 1857 he worked with members of the Pre-Raphaelite circle on the Oxford Union murals, painting Sir Pelleas Leaving the Lady Ettarde (in situ). Dante Gabriel Rossetti and Edward Burne-Jones were predominant influences on the Pre-Raphaelite style of his early works, such as the Honey Queen (c. 1859; Manchester, C.A.G.). Prinsep toured Italy with Burne-Jones in 1859, studied at Charles Gleyre’s atelier in Paris from 1859 to 1860 and was in Rome from 1860 to 1861. George Du Maurier, a fellow student under Gleyre, introduced him to the St John’s Wood Clique, of which he became an honorary member. His mature style was influenced by Frederick Leighton, for instance in At the Golden Gate (1882; Manchester, C.A.G.) and Ayesha (1887; London, Tate, on dep. London, Leighton House A.G. & Mus.), and by John Everett Millais in such works as Cinderella (1899; Manchester, C.A.G.) and Goose Girl (1900; Liverpool, Walker A.G.). Both artists were close personal friends. Prinsep’s late style was also influenced by the Venetian subjects of Luke Fildes and Henry Woods (1846–1921). In 1876 he was commissioned to paint the Imperial Durbar (British Royal Col.) to commemorate Queen Victoria becoming Empress of India. He was elected ARA in 1878, RA in 1894 and Professor of Painting at the Royal Academy in 1900. He married Florence Leyland, the daughter of F. R. Leyland, and in 1864 commissioned a house from Philip Webb at 14 Holland Park Road, Kensington. The house was completed in 1866 in a red-brick, parsonage style typical of Webb, with Queen Anne Revival details. It was among the first of several grand houses commissioned by artists in that area, designed both to accommodate studio space and to display the artists’ social status. Although Prinsep’s work lacked originality, his personal charm, wealth and social standing gave him an important place in the Victorian art world.
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