Hubert von Herkomer

Herkomer was born on 26 May 1849 at Waal, in the Kingdom of Bavaria, the son of Lorenz Herkomer (1825–1888), a wood-carver of great ability, and his wife Josephine Herkomer, née Niggl (1826–1879). His family was poor, and his mother tried to supplement his father's earnings by giving music lessons. Once his mother gave him a half sovereign for some shopping: "It was the last piece of gold in the place. I lost it. My parents were in despair." '', 1878, Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool Lorenz Herkomer left Bavaria in 1851 with his wife and child for the United States, settling in Cleveland, Ohio. They soon returned to Europe and in 1857 settled in Southampton at 10, Windsor Terrace, where the family spent seventeen years before moving to Watford. Hubert's education was slight: "He went to school for a month or two, and, falling ill never returned." In a lengthy interview for the boys' annual Chums in 1896, Herkomer recalled his childhood: "We had an anxious time of it when I was a boy. We were constantly in want of money..... I was always inclined to art, and as a little boy worked principally at my father's bench, but by the time I had turned twelve I had produced quite a number of water-colour drawings. The reputation I gained among my play fellows, however, was as a maker of kites". He also crafted mechanical toys including clowns and wagons to give to his friends. While in Southampton, Herkomer went to the school of art there and began his formal art training. An uncle in the United States commissioned his father to carve the Four Evangelists in wood. Receiving some money, his father determined to take Hubert to Munich, so that he could study art there while his father worked on the carvings. In his Chums interview thirty years later, Herkomer recalled the trip vividly: "Ah, how I remember that first visit to Germany! ... We crossed to Antwerp in a cattle boat ... And never shall I forget the miseries of that voyage. And then there were the railway carriages on the other side. We were compelled to travel fourth-class, in the company of people who were no less filthy than the carriages; and I remember..... I swore a big oath that if ever I had any money I would travel in the most luxurious style possible. I have never forgotten that oath." Herkomer and his father led a hard life while in Munich, but he stated that "they were very happy days" and his father sat as model for him during that time. In 1866, Herkomer began a more serious course of study at the South Kensington Schools. == Career ==

'', 1875 In 1869 Herkomer exhibited for the first time at the Royal Academy of Arts and sold his first picture for two guineas. Also in 1869, he began working as an illustrator for the newly founded newspaper The Graphic, a rival of the Illustrated London News. After a wood-engraving dated 1871, he established his position as an artist of high distinction at the Royal Academy. Another early notable work is his Eventide: A Scene in the Westminster Union (1878). On 10 January 1872, Herkomer was naturalized as a British subject. Then aged 22 and living at 32, Smith Street, Chelsea, he was described as an unmarried artist. His oath of allegiance to Queen Victoria was witnessed by Sir Sills John Gibbons, Lord Mayor of London. In 1873, Herkomer visited a friend who lived in Bushey, Hertfordshire, and the next year he rented a pair of cottages there called Dyreham and a studio near Melbourne Road, Bushey. By the time he was twenty-four, he had sold a painting for £1,200 pounds to CE Fry, an oil painting titled The Last Muster (1875). In 1879 he was elected an associate of the Royal Academy. In the same year, he established an Art School at Bushey which he continued until 1904, attracting many students. In 1885 Herkomer succeeded Ruskin and was appointed Slade Professor of Fine Art at the University of Oxford, a position he held until 1894. He was the first president of the Oxford Art Society, established in 1891. In 1890 Herkomer was elected a Royal Academician, in 1893 an associate of the Royal Watercolour Society, and the next year a full member. In 1907, Herkomer was knighted by King Edward VII. It was voluntarily wound up in 1926 having been run up to that time by his former pupil, Lucy Kemp-Welch. It is now defunct. In 1899, Herkomer designed the Grand Sword of the Gorsedd of Bards, and he also designed some of its other regalia. Of Herkomer's work for the Gorsedd, Jan Morris has noted that he "created for its functionaries gloriously neo-Druidical robes and insignia of gold, velvet, and ermine (the Archdruid's breastplate was designed to choke him, Herkomer said, if he gave a false judgement)." In recognitiom of his contributions to Welsh art and his involvement with the National Eisteddfod, Herkomer was invested into the Gorsedd and received the bardic name "Gomer". Herkomer was an enthusiast of cars and car racing. In 1907, he established Germany's first touring car rally, the Herkomer-Konkurrenz. This rally was revived in 1997 and still takes place in Landsberg every other year. ==Personal life==

In 1873, at Watford, Herkomer married Anna Caroline Ada Weise. A son, Siegfried Hubert, was born in 1875 and a daughter, Elsa Anna Iole, the next year. His first wife died in Vienna in 1883. In 1884, Herkomer married Eliza Louisa Griffiths, aged 35, known as Lulu, at Ruthin. She died a year later in child-birth. He then married a third wife, Maggie Griffiths, the sister of Lulu, also from Ruthin. In 1888, Herkomer's father, Lorenz Herkomer, died at Watford aged 73. The next year, Herkomer's third wife gave birth to a son who was named Lorenz Hans Lawrence. In 1893, they had a daughter, Gwenddydd. ==Death and legacy==

Herkomer died at Budleigh Salterton on 31 March 1914 and was buried in the churchyard beside St James's Church, Bushey. The largest collection of his work is held by Bushey Museum, and some examples are in the Herkomer Museum at Landsberg am Lech, Germany. Herkomer's portrait of H.H. Richardson can be found in the Smithsonian Portrait Gallery in Washington, DC. Herkomer's connection with the 1896 Eisteddfod is commemorated in the naming of Herkomer Crescent and Herkomer Road, Llandudno. ==Gallery==

File:Sir Hubert von Herkomer - The Dying Monarch, Funtensee - Google Art Project.jpg|The Dying Monarch, Funtensee, 1884 File:Hubert von Herkomer 1886 - Portrait of Henry Hobson Richardson.jpg|Portrait of Henry Hobson Richardson (1886) File:Hubert von Herkomer 1891~ - On strike.jpg|On Strike (circa 1891) File:Hans Rudi Erdt 1907 - Herkomer Race Poster, 1907.jpg|Poster for the rally initiated by Herkomer (1907). File:Hubert von Herkomer 1870 - A Guard-Room at Aldershot.jpg|A Guard-Room at Aldershot (1870) File:Hubert von Herkomer 1871 - Sunday at the Chelsea Hospital (The Graphic).jpg|Sunday at the Chelsea Hospital (1871). File:Hubert von Herkomer 1873 - The 'Schuhplattl' Dance (The Graphic).jpg|''The 'Schuhplattl' Dance'' (1873) File:Hubert von Herkomer - 1900 - Beauty's Altar.png|''Beauty's Altar'', 1900 ==Writings==

• Art Tuition, (Peacock, Printer, 1882; p19) – lecture in Birmingham Town Hall, on February 10, 1882. • The Pictorial Music Play. (Magazine of Art, July 1889, pp. 316–24). • Scenic Art. (Magazine of Art, July 1889, pp. 316–24). • The Herkomers. Vol. 1. (London: Macmillan, 1910). • The Herkomers. Vol. 2. (London: Macmillan, 1911). ==References==