This biography from the Archives of AskART:
|  Born into a London family of engravers and artists, Valentine Bromley was elected an associate of the Royal Institute of Painters and a member of the Society of British Artists. His talents attracted the attention of the Earl of Dunraven, who described his adventures to Bromley of Dunraven's explorations to Quebec, Colorado, Montana Territory and Yellowstone Park. Bromley did many paintings of the Crow Indians and illustrated Dunraven's book called "The Great Divide" from Dunraven's descriptions of adventures on an 1874 trip to Yellowstone. In the book, Dunraven never mentioned whether or not the artist was actually on site. The book sold widely in England and served the purpose of a tour guide for many Yellowstone visitors.
Bromley was headed for membership in England's Royal Academy when he died at age twenty-six of smallpox. At the time, his Indian paintings were on exhibit in London.
Completing relatively few works, Valentine Bromley is thought by some critics to have been an artist of western subjects rivalling George Catlin and Frederic Remington. However, he died at age 30 from smallpox, and became an unknown artist until recently when interest in western art rekindled interest in his painting.
Source:
Peggy and Harold Samuels, "Encyclopedia of Artists of the American West"
Peter Hassrick, "Drawn to Yellowstone"
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Biography from Altermann Galleries and Auctioneers, I:
| Valentine Walter Bromley
Born: London, England 1848
Died: London, England 1877
Important English Special Artist-illustrator, genre and mythological painter
Bromley was the pupil of his father, an engraver who was a member of the Society of British Artists. His grandfather and great-grandfather were also recognized engravers. He exhibited at the Royal Academy and at the New Water-Colour Society beginning in 1865 when he was 17. A tall and dashing figure with flowing handlebar mustaches, he was a Home Artist (i.e, domestic and a Special Artist ‘traveling’ for the Illustrated London News).
In 1874, the Earl of Dunraven retained Bromley as artist to portray the hunting adventures on his third trip to the American West where Dunraven already had traveled with Buffalo Bill and where he owned a 4,000-acre Colorado ranch. The exploration was of the Upper Yellowstone in Montana. Dunraven and Bromley did not get along because the artist avoided hunting to concentrate on Indian genre scenes, recording one of the most significant studies of Indian hide trading, women’s tasks, burials, games, war, and courtship. Some of the drawings appeared in Illustrated London News from 1875-1877. Bromley also depicted the hunting trip through Yellowstone, across what is now Dunraven Pass, near Mount Dunraven. He then returned to England to complete the 17 paintings illustrating the Earl’s book published in 1876. He dies from smallpox in 1877 at 29, while the Indian paintings were being exhibited in London. In his book, Dunraven never acknowledged that Bromley made the American trip.
Resource: SAMUELS’ Encyclopedia of ARTISTS of THE AMERICAN WEST,
Peggy and Harold Samuels, 1985, Castle Publishing
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