Event archive
Frederick Sandys - A Singular Man
- 12 July 2023 3.00pm - 4.45pm
- Norwich Castle Museum & Gallery
- Supported by EAAF - if you're not a member and would like to attend this event Join Now.
With a talk by Dr Giorgia Bottinelli, Norwich Castle Curator of Historic Art, this event celebrates a new book by Betty Elzea, published by Unicorn Press, documenting the life of the artist Frederick Sandys.
Born and educated in Norwich, Frederick Sandys, had an artisan background. From youth, encouraged by his father, he developed prodigious skills as a draughtsman and painter, and enjoyed the support of the Norfolk gentry and prominent Norwich industrialists and bankers. Landscape painting and nature studies led to commissioned portraits which became his main source of income.
Moving to London and meeting Dante Gabriel Rossetti, the Pre-Raphaelites and their associates, Sandys kept a foothold in Norwich, drawing and painting both women in legendary disguises and meticulously-detailed portraits, pioneering a new type of large-scale portrait drawing in chalks, for which he became well-known.
Betty Elzea's catalogue raisonné of Sandys’ work was published in 2001, the year that the Castle Museum put on a major exhibition. In retirement, Betty Elzea continued her research into Sandys’ life and work, completing her biography with help from Sandys' grandson, the late Anthony Crane.
We will begin with a talk by Giorgia Bottinelli in the Town Close Auditorium, followed by tea and cake in the Castle Rotunda. There will be time to see the works by Sandys currently on show and the book will be available to purchase.
Tickets are £15 per person and include talk and refreshments.
| 3.00pm | Arrival and lecture in the TCA |
| 4.00pm | Tea & Cake in the Rotunda |
| 4.45pm | Event Close |
- Mary Magdalene 1862
- Frederick Sandys (1829-1904)
- oil on canvas
- © Norwich Castle Museum (Norfolk Museums Service), Bequeathed by Russell James Colman 1951
