Frances C. Fairman facts for kids

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Quick facts for kids Frances C. Fairman
Fairman in 1910
Born	1839 (1839) Lynsted, England
Died	February 1923 (aged 83–84) London
Resting place	St Mary's Catholic Cemetery, Kensal Green
Known for	Animal paintings

Frances Caroline Fairman (1839 – February 1923) was a British watercolourist, a painter in oils, and an illustrator. In her lifetime she was best known for her canine portraits, some of which were commissioned by royalty and aristocracy. She was known as "the Lady Landseer" for the quality of her work. She travelled to the Americas, France, and Switzerland, returning with watercolour landscape sketches.

Fairman was born in Kent and studied under Louis Henri Deschamps in Paris, but for most of her life lived and worked in London. When she was in her late 50s, she was taken to court and fined for attempting to prevent a hansom cab driver from whipping his horse in Fulham Road, London, and for striking the cabman with her hand after he had hit her.

Life
Career
Collections
See also

Life

Frances Caroline "Fanny" Fairman was baptised on 20 March 1839 at Lynsted, Kent. She spent most of her working life in London. She started her life at Millers House, Lynsted, where she lived with her parents and five servants. The 1851 census recorded her as a scholar at twelve years old, at 30 Linsted Street, Lynsted, Kent, with her parents and four house servants. By 1861 she was living with her mother at 7 Cambridge Square, Paddington, with one servant. No profession was declared for either woman. The 1871 Census shows her as a guest of Colonel B. Hall, a gunpowder manufacturer, at Syndale House, Ospringe, Kent. In 1891 she was living at 4 Culversden Road, Drysdale, Streatham, London, with one servant, describing herself as an artist and watercolourist. The 1911 Census found her living alone at 4 Avenue Studios, Fulham, London, describing herself as an artist of dog portraits, working independently at home.

In 1873, Fairman and her mother spotted a false reference which had been presented by the "tall, well-dressed" James Bartley when applying for the position of butler at their Kensington house. Bartley had invented a former employer, the Hon. Mrs G. Sutton, and had forged a letter purporting to be from her. Bartley pled guilty in court and was fined £15 10s. (equivalent to £984.35 in 2021) with the alternative of imprisonment. He paid the fine.

In 1887, Fairman inherited a legacy from her uncle George Gosselin of Bristol.

The hansom cab, a forerunner of the taxicab

Fairman died aged 85 in Chelsea, London. Her funeral on 7 February 1923 was a requiem mass at Brompton Oratory. Queen Alexandra sent a wreath with the message, "In deepest remembrance of a great animal artist. We shall all miss her greatly." Fairman had painted Edward VII's fox terrier Caesar, who "followed the [king's] funeral procession to the grave".

Career

Fairman was trained in Paris by Louis Henri Deschamps (1846–1902). Known as "the Lady Landseer" for her animal paintings, she was a watercolourist, painter in oils, and illustrator. Her professional signature was FCF or Frances Fairman, but in newspapers she was usually named as Frances C. Fairman. She had membership of the Society of Lady Artists. Her home and work address was 4 The Avenue Studios, 76 Fulham Road, South-West London. She flourished from around 1864 until 1917.

At some point before 1889, Fairman travelled to the Americas. She went to Florida, she visited Brazil before 1897, and she brought back and exhibited works depicting both of those locations. She also made watercolour sketches in Switzerland. In 1917 her picture We owe it to King Edward was exhibited at the Albert Hall, where the Ladies' Kennel Association dog show was being held. As a member, Fairman helped to support the association financially, and the picture was sold in aid of the Association.

British West Indies, before 1889
View near Amsteg with Uri-Rothstock in the distance, 1800s
View from Star and Garter, Richmond Hill, 1800s

Royal commissions

Fairman "painted nearly 30 royal pets in her time", including Edward VII's fox terrier, Caesar, and she had the use of a studio at Buckingham Palace. The magazine Vote said that she had "painted many portraits of the favourite dogs of Queen Victoria, King Edward, and Queen Alexandra, and ... had attained a considerable reputation as an artist of animal life". In 1897, The Duke and Duchess of York, Princess Victoria and the Princess of Wales visited the Clifford Galleries in London in order to view The Dog Show on Paper and Canvas, an exhibition of Fairman's canine portraits. In 1910 Fairman was commissioned to paint four dogs, by the Queen. In 1911, the Pall Mall Gazette described Fairman thus:

Painters of popular pets are greatly appreciated if their work is of merit. Miss Frances Fairman ... belong[s] to the select few who have large circles of admirers. [Following her studies in Paris] she became quickly known, and was soon overwhelmed with work. She is the only woman painter living who painted Queen Victoria's dogs by command. She is particularly happy in lifelike pictures of Queen Alexandra's pet Japanese spaniels Togo and Haru. These dogs, along with six others since dead, were a special present sent to Queen Alexandra by the Mikado. Miss Fairman painted a pet dog of the late Duke of Clarence, which became King Edward's pet after the duke's death. She also painted two of Princess Victoria's favourite dogs, these pictures being Queen Alexandra's birthday gifts to her daughter. Numerous well-known society people are glad to have their dogs immortalised by Miss Fairman's deft brush. Sir Dighton and the late Lady Probyn were among her staunchest admirers. Princess Wrede insisted on her coming to Paris to paint her famous Japs. Lady Hilda Moseley, Lady Samuelson, H.H. the Ranee of Sarawak (Lady Brooke), Lady Evelyn Ewart, Lord Ducie, Lord Cathcart and Princess Duleep Singh are a few of the most constant patrons of Miss Fairman. Her wonderful facility in reproducing a dog's expression is probably found in her being able to make a constant study of them, for she has a kennel of delightful pugs in her studio. (Pall Mall Gazette, 1911)

In 1903, Fairman produced a photogravure of one of her politically themed pieces, The agreement: England and Japan, 1902. The Globe described it thus: "A bulldog and a Japanese spaniel standing side by side with a Chinese ivory pagoda behind them. The reproduction is very successful in retaining the effect of the original painting, and gives a good suggestion of Miss Fairman's work. A proof of the engraving has been accepted by the Queen". The original painting was sold as part of the late Mario Buatta’s collection in 2020.

Spot, Queen Victoria's Short-haired terrier, 1895
Queen Victoria's favourite Collie, engraving after Fairman, 1915
The agreement: England and Japan, 1903

Book illustrations

Silent Duchess, from Leighton (1911)
King Charles Spaniels, from Leighton (1907)

Exhibitions

Fairman's works were exhibited in London from 1865 onwards.

Dudley Gallery Art Society, Egyptian Hall: One watercolour. "F.C. Fairman ... among those who send promising or attractive sketches". (Illustrated London News, 1886).
Dudley Gallery Art Society, Egyptian Hall: Bob, the first prize old English Sheepdog, also portraits, flower-study and animal portraits, all watercolours (1889).
Dudley Gallery: various works (1890).
Society of Lady Artists: Various watercolours of fruit and flowers (1892).
Dudley Gallery Art Society, Egyptian Hall: A couple of owls and dead mouse, watercolour, (1890). "Decided merit".
Art exhibition at Victoria Hall, Bracknell: Three in a tub, oil (1894).
Society of British Artists: Contemplating the fate of China and Three Japanese spaniels and a broken China doll (1896).
Society of Lady Artists: Various canine portraits, including Miss Bowyer Smythe's Scotch dogs and Champion dachshund Pterodactyl (1896). Miss Bowyer Smythe's Scotch dogs is a very sympathetic study of canine characteristics".
Clifford's, Bond Street, London: An exhibition, The Dog Show on Paper and Canvas, dedicated to Fairman's dog portraits (1897).
Royal Academy Summer Exhibition: The platter clean: portraits of three Japanese dogs, 448, oil (1897).
Society of Lady Artists: Gilda and Mitzu, watercolour (1898).
Graves Galleries, Pall Mall, London: Various canine portraits, including United we stand, watercolour (1898).
Royal Academy Summer Exhibition: Three for the red, 632, oil (1899).
Society of Women Artists: Various works, including "many of her faithfully-depicted dogs" (1899).
Grafton Galleries, Women's international Art Club: Four canine portraits, including Tina (1901).
Dudley Gallery Art Society, Water Colour Society: Two "clever dog studies" (1901).
No.10 Ryder Street, St James's, London: Various dog portraits in an exhibition devoted to dogs (1901). "Miss F.C. Fairman, both in oil and watercolour, is celebrated for her proficiency in portraying well-known figures in the canine world".
Mendoza Galleries, St James's, London: Various watercolours, "excellent work" (1903).
Society of Women Artists: Smooth Chow Yen How, watercolour (1902). "An aptitude for animal painting ... Miss F.C. Fairman's portraits of dogs".
Society of Women artists: "The best things are Miss F.C. Fairman's large painting of a Newfoundland dog ..." (1903).
Society of Women Artists: Various works (1904). Fairman was described as "popular ... portraitist of dogs".
Dore Gallery, Bond Street, London: A collection titled Dogs of all nations (1904).
Grafton Gallery: "Three of her speaking-dog portraits" (1904).
Dore Gallery: Various works (1905).
Society of Women Artists: "Clever studies of animals" (1905).
Society of Woman Artists: Various works (1906).

A couple of owls and a dead mouse, 1890
Contemplating the fate of China, 1894

Collections

Royal Collection Trust: Six canine portraits including Roy (1897), oil on canvas. This picture is displayed at Osborne House.
National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty: A longhorn (1864), Gerbils (1872), and Chinchillas (1875).
Richmond Borough Art Collection: View from Star and Garter, Richmond Hill (undated).

A longhorn, 1864
Gerbils, 1872
Chinchillas, 1875