John Collier

John Collier came from an important family

John Collier was born in London on 28 January 1850. He came from a family that had enjoyed great success in politics and business: his grandfather of the same name, a Quaker and merchant, was a member of the English Parliament, as was his father Robert Collier (1817-1886), who was also a high-ranking lawyer in the civil service and held a seat on the Privy Council, the crown council of the British monarch. Robert Collier was honoured for his services with the title of 1st Baron Monkswell, which passed to John Collier's elder brother Robert; as 2nd Baron Monkswell, he later represented the British Minister of War and presided over the London County Council. John Collier received a solid education, and after attending the renowned Eton College, he studied at the Slade School of Art under Sir Edward Poynter (1836-1919), then in Paris under Jean-Paul Laurens (1838-1921), and in Munich. 

A close connection to Thomas Henry Huxley

John Collier was supported in his artistic endeavours by his father, who was himself a member of the Royal Society of British Arts and had studios in his house for his son and his first wife, the painter Marian Huxley (1859-1887). Marian "Mady" Huxley was the daughter of Thomas Henry Huxley (1825-1895), President of the Royal Society. John Collier was closely connected to the Huxley family; his brother-in-law, the writer Leonard Huxley (1860-1933), was also one of his best friends and after the death of his first wife Marian, he married her younger sister Ethel Huxley (1866-1941) without further ado - this was forbidden in England at the time, so the wedding had to take place in Norway. The artist and his first wife had a daughter, Joyce Collier (1884-1972), who followed in her father's footsteps as a portrait miniature painter, and with his second wife, a son, Laurence Collier (1890-1976), who later served as British ambassador to Norway.

John Collier portrayed very diverse people

John Collier was best known for his portrait art. His subjects included such diverse characters as the scientist Charles Darwin, the writer Rudyard Kipling, the Bishops of Shrewsbury and Hereford, his fellow painter Lawrence Alma-Tadema, the future King George V when he was still Duke of Cornwall and York, as well as an unnamed tramp and even a witch. John Collier was one of the 24 founding members of the Royal Society of Painters, which still exists today. While his portraits of older men bear a strong resemblance to the work of his fellow countryman Frank Holl (1845-1888), the portraits of younger men, women and children have a freshness of their own. In addition to the portraits, Collier also painted so-called "problem pictures", a genre popular in late Victorian art that depicted key scenes from history, literature and legend in an ambivalent manner and encouraged the public to make their own interpretations - a type of opulent book illustration without text.

John Collier died in his hometown of London on 11 April 1934.