Identity:
Sir William Samuel Henry Llewellyn was a landscape and portrait painter. He married the miniature portrait painter Marion Llewellyn.
Life:
Llewellyn studied under Edward Poynter at the Royal College of Art and in Paris under Cormon, J. Lefebvre and G. Ferrier. His works include Old Whitby (Leeds). In 1919 he painted the State portrait of Queen Mary. His painting Sailing at Blakeney was purchased by the Chantrey Bequest in 1938.
Llewellyn exhibited in London from 1884 at the Royal Academy, Royal Society of Portrait Painters, Royal Institute of Oil Painters, Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours, Royal Society of Painter-Etchers and Engravers, Grosvenor Gallery, New Gallery, New English Art Club, Society of British Artists and International Society of Sculptors, Painters and Gravers, a society that formed in 1898 with JW as its President. He also exhibited at the Royal Hibernian Academy, Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts, Royal Society of Artists in Birmingham, Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool and Manchester City Art Gallery.
Llewellyn was a member of the New English Art Club from 1887 to 1889, a group with which JW exhibited at their first show in 1888. He was also a member of the Society of British Artists in 1888, a society for which JW acted as President from 1886 to 1888. Llewellyn was among those who resigned in support of JW when he was forced to stand down as President in 1888 (#03506). In 1889 Llewellyn was among those included in the preliminary preparations for a meal to be held at the Criterion on 1 May in celebration of JW's honorary membership of the Royal Academy in Munich (#00631). At this date Llewellyn was living at Wentworth Studios, Manresa Road, Chelsea.
In 1891 Llewellyn joined the Royal Society of Portrait Painters and Arts Club. He was also a member of the Society of 25 Artists. In 1898 he became a member of the Royal Institute of Oil Painters. In 1912 he was elected an associate of the Royal Academy, becoming a full member in 1920 and President in 1928 until 1938. In 1918 he was elected to the Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours and was knighted in 1918. In 1929 he joined the Royal Society of Painter-Etchers and Engravers, and the following year was named an honorary member of the Royal Society of Miniature Painters.
Bibliography:
Bénézit, E., Dictionnaire des Peintres, Sculpteurs, Dessinateurs et Graveurs, 8 vols, Paris, 1956-61; Wood, Christopher, Dictionary of Victorian Painters, Woodbridge, 1871; Johnson, J., and A. Gruetzner, Dictionary of British Artists 1880-1940, Woodbridge, 1880; Walkley, Giles, Artists' houses in London 1764-1914, Aldershot, 1994; Von Baranow, Sonja, 'Franz von Lenbach', The Grove Dictionary of Art Online, ed. L. Macy, http://www.groveart.com (accessed 1 December 2003); Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford, 2004.