Briton Riviere British 1840-1920

Briton Riviere came from a family of no fewer than four generations of exhibitors at the London Royal Academy.  Born in London in 1840, he was drawing and painting at an early age.  His father, feeling that some knowledge of Fine Arts should be an essential part of an education, and being Master of the drawing school at Cheltenham College, have him his initial lessons.  He was also to study later with John Pettie and William Orchardson. 

At the age of eleven, two of his pictures were exhibited at the British Institution.  Eventually Riviere entered Oxford, receiving a B.A. in 1867 and an M.A. in 1873.  At the time of his graduation, he was already an exhibitor at the Royal Academy although it wasn’t until 1866 that the artist was to receive popular notice.

Riviere was elected an Associate of the Academy in 1878 and became a full Academician two years later.  The artist was extremely successful, and, thanks to engravings, known worldwide.  Although from time to time he attempted classical or allegorical themes, it was the sympathetic relationship between man and dog that brought him fame and fortune.

Harry How, who described the artist as “an exceedingly modest man – he would prefer to speak generously about other men and their work rather than look back upon his own,” writes in an interview in 1892: “It is only reasonable to suppose that painters, like other folk, work for a living; but as one sits chatting with Briton Riviere, it soon becomes apparent that there is a huge under of irrepressible and lasting love for his art and those who have helped him – the dumb creatures.  To hear him speak of the dogs, sheep, and horses which have posed as models to him, is to discover what an affectionate corner our four-footed friends have in a heart that sees something to admire in them.”

Biography excerpted from the unpublished catalog by Edward P. Bentley for the Haussner Restaurant in Baltimore, Maryland, titled: Haussner’s, The Children.