17 Facts About Francis Danby

Francis Danby was an Irish painter of the Romantic era.

Francis Danby began to practice drawing at the Royal Dublin Society's schools; and under an erratic young artist named James Arthur O'Connor he began painting landscapes.

In 1813 Francis Danby left for London together with O'Connor and Petrie.

At Bristol they made a pause, and Francis Danby, finding he could get trifling sums for watercolours, remained there working diligently and sending to the London exhibitions pictures of importance.

Francis Danby remained connected with members of the Bristol School for around a decade, even after leaving Bristol in 1824.

Francis Danby was close to Edward Villiers Rippingille, whose style developed alongside that of Francis Danby under the influence of Bird.

The Bristol artists, particularly the amateur Francis Gold, were important in influencing Danby towards a more imaginative and poetical style.

In 1820 when Francis Danby exhibited The Upas Tree of Java at the British Institution, Cumberland used his influence to promote its favourable reception.

Francis Danby left Bristol for London, and in 1828 exhibited his Opening of the Sixth Seal at the British Institution, receiving from that body a prize of 200 guineas; and this picture was followed by two others on the theme of the Apocalypse.

In 1829 Francis Danby's wife deserted him, running off with the painter Paul Falconer Poole.

Francis Danby left London, declaring that he would never live there again, and that the academy, instead of aiding him, had, somehow or other, used him badly.

Francis Danby later moved to Paris for a short period of time.

Francis Danby returned to England in 1840, when his sons, James and Thomas, both artists, were growing up.

Francis Danby exhibited his large and powerful The Deluge that year; the success of that painting, "the largest and most dramatic of all his Martinesque visions," revitalised his reputation and career.

At the 1855 International Exposition in Paris, Francis Danby won a prize and critical acclaim for a seascape.

Francis Danby lived his final years at Exmouth in Devon, where he died in 1861.

The elder, James Francis Danby, exhibited at the Royal Academy.