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Died 1909, Kensington, London, United Kingdom | ||
John Robert Parsons (Dublin, ca. 1825 - Kensington, 1909) was an Irish photographer and painter. He is best known by the series of photographs he made in 1865 by Dante Gabriel Rossetti's model Jane Morris.
Life and Work
Parsons grew up in the Irish County Cork and moved in 1840 to London. There he worked as a painter and between 1850 and 1868 he exhibited several times at the Royal Academy of Arts and Grosvenor Gallery. From 1860 he was also involved with photography and opened a photo studio in Portman Square. Besides portraits, he also took photographs of paintings, including Dante Gabriel Rossetti and James McNeill Whistler.
Today, Parsons still primarily known for the series of pictures he made at the request of Rossetti in the summer of 1865 Rossetti's former muse and model Jane Morris. The photo shoot in Rossetti's garden and house are eighteen portraits known. Rossetti conducted meticulous control over the poses during the session that took Morris, as well as the clothes they wore and the objects and furniture that were used. It is difficult to say how Rossetti took the photos later as a basis for later paintings. His Reverie in 1868 unmistakably resembles one of the pictures taken, but also be seen similarities with other portraits not only of Morris but also with later portraits Rossetti made of Alexa Wilding. Rossetti, however, used the pictures are not as detailed studies, but probably mainly as tools to visualize certain poses and as a reminder for the times that his model was not available.
Early 1870s Parsons partnered with Rossetti's art dealer Charles Augustin Howell. From about 1870 to 1877 he had a studio in London's Wigmore Street, but from 1878 he photographed no more. From 1888 he would no longer hold exhibitions and he led a secluded life. He was known as a quiet and introverted man.
Parsons was declared bankrupt in 1892. In 1909 he died in solitude, in a room in Kensington. It took almost a month before his body was discovered. The Times published showing a message on his death under the headline "An artist's death." Four days later, after formally had been established that he had died a natural death, the newspaper published an obituary, moreover, in which he was praised as "an admirable artist in oil and chalk." The general public, he remained unknown, partly because he refused to exhibit in the last decades of his life.
A photo portrait Parsons in 1870 made by William Morris currently hangs in the Victoria and Albert Museum. His paintings are located and are scarcely known in private collections.