PARSONS, Arthur Wilde

1854 - 1931

Arthur Wilde Parsons was born at Stapleton, Gloucestershire in 1854, son of Dr John Dungate Featherstonehaugh Parsons (21 January 1814-31 December 1885), M.D., a medical practitioner, and his wife Jane née Taylor (14 July 1814-29 October 1899), who married at Clifton, Bristol on 29 August 1848. In 1861, Arthur was a 7-year-old, living at 1 Esplanade, South Parade, Weston-super-Mare with his parents, 47-year-old John and 46-year-old Jane and his three siblings, John Featherstonehaugh 11, George Metford 9 and Jane 5. Arthur studied locally and married at Barton Regis, Gloucestershire on 12 May 1881, Mary Waters Burridge (1845-31 May 1933). A little-known self-taught painter of marine pictures and an illustrator. In 1891, a 37-year-old landscape painter, living at 75 Hampton Park, Westbury-on-Trym, Bristol with his 44-year-old wife Mary, three children Arthur Dungate Burridge 8, Amy Mary 7 and Mary Elizabeth 5, with his mother Jane, his aunt and two boarders. He exhibited in London infrequently and his earliest subjects were the shores of the Bristol Channel, to be followed by Cornish Scenes painted on summer visits to his brother, the vicar of Crantock. He visited Holland and in about 1911 Italy which had an influence on his work when he produces Venetian scenes. In 1904 he became a founder member of the 'Bristol Savages' group and was a member and exhibiter at the Ipswich Fine Art Club 1902-1905, exhibiting from 75 Hampton Park, Redland, Bristol in 1903, six watercolours 'Dismasted Barque, Falmouth', 'Off Cardiff', 'In Penarth Roads', 'Fair Wind of Lundy' and 'Summer Weather, Falmouth' which seem to have been his only exhibits. In 1911, a landscape painter, living at 75 Hampton Park West, Bristol with his wife and two of his unmarried daughters Amy and Mary. Arthur Wilde Parsons died at 75 Hampton Park, Redland, Bristol on 8 June 1931, aged 77.

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Works by This Artist