WILLIAM HEMSLEY
British 1819-1893

Biography



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William Hemsley (British 1819-1893) 'Oh! Take it'
William Hemsley (British 1819-1893) 'Oh! Take it'

William Hemsley (British 1819-1893)

Oh! Take it
oil on panel signed and inscribed on verso "Oh! Take It/WM Hemsley", signed indistinctly lower left
Size: 8.62 h x 7 w in (with frame 14 ½ x 13 ¼ in)
J21261   

William Hemsley was a self-taught genre painter working in London during the second half of the 19th century. His genre scenes of everyday life, which are usually painted on small scale, follow the gentle tradition of Thomas Webster (1800-1886) and Frederick Daniel Hardy (1827-1911). He was, like them, fond of painting children at play.

At first, Hemsley followed his father’s profession, architecture, teaching himself painting in his spare time. He travelled in Germany and Holland and exhibited at the Royal Society of Artists, Walker Art Gallery, Manchester City Art Gallery, Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolour, Royal Institute of Oil Painters, Arthur Tooth & Sons Gallery and the Royal British Academy, where he exhibited seventy-six times.