John Zephaniah Bell Explained

John Zephaniah Bell (1794–1883) was a Scottish artist.

Life

He was born in Dundee, where his father William Bell was a tanner, businessman and banker; James Stanislaus Bell was his brother. He studied at the University of Edinburgh, and then went to London where he was a pupil of Martin Archer Shee.^{[1] [2] [3]}

Bell studied under Antoine-Jean Gros in Paris, and was in Rome for over a year from 1825. He was portrait painter to Maria II of Portugal, and assistant to David Wilkie. He married Jane Graham Hay Campbell in 1831.^{[2] [4]}

Bell became head of the Manchester School of Design when it was set up in 1838.^{[2] [5]} He resigned in 1843 and was succeeded by George Wallis.^[6]

Works

In Paris, Bell met David Ogilvy, 9th Earl of Airlie, who became a patron and had him decorate Cortachy Castle.^[2] He showed paintings at the Royal Academy and Royal Manchester Institution in the period 1824 to 1865.^[7] Frescoes in the Muirhouse mansion in Edinburgh impressed Wilkie.^[8] Bell won a prize in the Westminster Hall fresco competition of 1842.^{[2] [5]}

Bell was a Sandemanian and painted a portrait of Michael Faraday, of the same church.^[9] The attribution to Bell of John Gubbins Newton and His Sister, Mary Newton has been withdrawn.^[10]

External links

• WorldCat page

Notes and References

1. Book: James Elton Bell. Frances Jean Bell. Sir Robert Bell and His Early Virginia Colony Descendants: A Compilation of 16th, 17th, and 18th Century English and Scottish Families With the Surname Bell, Beale, Le Bel, Et Al. 12 March 2013. 31 January 2007. Wheatmark, Inc.. 978-1-58736-747-2. 97.
2. National Gallery (Great Britain), Descriptive and Historical Catalogue of the Pictures. British schools (1896), p. 28, archive.org.
3. Book: Dmitry Fedosov. University of Aberdeen. Centre for Scottish Studies. The Caledonian connection: Scotland-Russia ties : Middle Ages to early twentieth century : a concise biographical list. 1996. Centre for Scottish Studies, University of Aberdeen. 978-0-906265-22-2., page 11.
4. Book: Stuart MacDonald. History And Philosophy Of Art Education. 11 March 2013. 2004. James Clarke & Co.. 978-0-7188-9153-4. 85.
5. Book: Martin Hewitt. Victorian World. 11 March 2013. 25 January 2013. Routledge. 978-0-415-49187-7. 588.
6. Book: Franz Bosbach. William Filmer-Sankey. Hermann Hiery. Prinz Albert und die Entwicklung der Bildung in England und Deutschland im 19. Jahrhundert / Prince Albert and the Development of Education in England and Germany in the 19th Century. 11 March 2013. 1 January 2000. Walter de Gruyter. 978-3-11-095440-1. 113.
7. https://archive.today/20130409232236/http://library.getty.edu/vwebv/holdingsInfo?bibId=76237 Getty Research Library Catalog, Bell, John Zephaniah, 1794-1883.
8. http://www.scottish-places.info/scotgaz/people/famousfirst2372.html scottish-places.info, John Zephaniah Bell.
9. Book: Melville Y. Stewart. Science and Religion in Dialogue, Two Volume Set. 11 March 2013. 1 December 2009. John Wiley & Sons. 978-1-4443-1736-7. 347.
10. http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Who+was+Robert+Burnard%3F+Angus+Trumble+investigates+the+mystery+of+a...-a0122375140 thefreelibrary.com, Who was Robert Burnard?.