William Maw Egley

1826-1916 English

Cenas vitorianas e trajes detalhados

William Maw Egley was an English artist of the Victorian era. The son of the miniaturist William Egley, he studied under his father. His early works were illustrations of literary subjects typical of the period, such as Prospero and Miranda from The Tempest. These were similar to the work of The Clique. William Powell Frith, one of The Clique, hired Egley to add backgrounds to his own work. Egley soon developed a style influenced by Frith, including domestic and childhood subjects. Most of his paintings were humorous or "feelgood" genre scenes of urban and rural life, depicting such subjects as harvest festivals and contemporary fashions. His best-known painting, Omnibus Life in London (Tate Gallery), is a comic scene of people squashed together in the busy, cramped public transport of the era. Egley sempre demonstrou grande interesse pelos detalhes dos trajes, aos quais dedicava atenção minuciosa, mas suas pinturas eram frequentemente criticadas pelo seu estilo duro e desajeitado. Na década de 1860, Egley adotou a moda dos temas românticos do século XVIII. Embora tenha produzido um grande número de pinturas confiavelmente vendáveis, seu trabalho nunca foi admirado pela crítica.