Edward Arthur Fellowes Prynne (1854–1921) was a leading British painter of portraits and subject pictures, who in later life became one of the country's best-known creators of decorative art for churches.
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Family and early life
Born in Plymouth on 14 October 1854, Prynne was the third son of Emily Fellowes (daughter of Admiral Sir Thomas Fellowes KCB DCL), and the Cornish Tractarian and ritualist cleric George Rundle Prynne. The church architect George Fellowes Prynne was his elder brother.
Prynne attended St Mary's College in Harlow, founded in 1852 by the Anglo-Catholic cleric Charles Jonathan Goulden, from 1855 a member of the Society of the Holy Cross. He was later at Eastman's Royal Naval Academy, intended for the Royal Navy. At the suggestion of Frederic Leighton, however, he decided to embark on an artistic career. After preliminary training in art schools in London, he travelled to Antwerp, where he studied with the Belgian painter Charles Verlat. Subsequent study was undertaken in Florence, Paris and Rome.
Prynne married Emma Mary Joll in 1888, with whom he had two sons and three daughters: Beatrice Mary Fellowes Prynne (1893–1993), Dorothy Etheldreda Prynne (1894–1983), George Michael Fellowes Prynne (1896–1973), Stella Christine Marie Prynne (1898–1957) and John Rundle Fellowes Prynne (1903–1931). On moving to London in the 1880s, he lived at 8 Avonmore Road in Kensington Olympia (later home of the author Gavin Maxwell). He subsequently lived for over 20 years at 1 Woodville Road in Ealing. Prynne and his family became part of the community of artists living in Ealing. He was a member of Ealing Art Group, and was present at their first meeting in 1911. Prynne and his family attended St Peter's Church, Ealing.
Work
Prynne's early paintings showed a clear debt to his teacher Charles Verlat. Soon after his return from the continent, however, the artist fell under the influence of the Pre-Raphaelite school of painting, which he admired.
Prynne painted over 60 portraits, including a commission to paint a life-size portrait of the Duke of Edinburgh, as Admiral of the Fleet. By command of Queen Victoria, he attended Osborne House to show this portrait, which was later hung in the Royal Naval Barracks at Devonport. Prynne also painted mythological and religious pictures. Notable among these were Cophetua's Queen, Orpheus and Eurydice, Pan and Syrinx, and Silent Voices of the Studio.
Religious work
Prynne shared the ardent Anglo Catholic faith of his father and brother, George Fellowes Prynne. He is principally celebrated for his religious art, which was commissioned and purchased for churches across the county – particularly in Devon and Cornwall. In many instances, Prynne's painted altar and reredos panels and stained-glass grace the churches designed and restored by his brother.
One of Prynne's most striking and original works is his altar piece, 'Benedicite Domino Laudate Et Superexaltate Eum in Saecula', which includes five painted panels illustrating separate lines from the canticle of creation. Here Prynne's mythological and religious worlds combine, notably in the panel depicting a sub-marine angel garbed in scales and delicate fish fin wings. The piece was shown in the Royal Society of British Artists 114th Exhibition in 1896; a reviewer commenting, 'Mr. E. A. Fellowes Prynne shows an altar-piece, "Benedicite," rich in colour and the artist's mannerisms'. Other artists highlighted for praise by the otherwise unimpressed reviewer included W. Graham Robertson, William Luker, and Tom Robertson.
Prynne's painting 'Magnificat,' appeared in 1894 in the New Gallery on Regents Street, London. Other exhibits included 'Love among the Ruins' by Edward Burne Jones, as well as work by work by Lawrence Alma-Tadema, George Frederic Watts, Leonard Leslie Brooke, Charles Edward Hallé, Edward Matthew Hale, Walter Crane, William Laidlay, John Roddam Spencer Stanhope, George Hitchcock, Frank William Brangwyn, Andrew Brown Donaldson, George Henry Boughton, Arthur Lemon, George Howard, 9th Earl of Carlisle, Edward Poynter, William Llewellyn (painter), William Logsdail, Philip Norman (artist), Clara Montalba, William Wontner and George Frampton. 'Magnificat' also appeared at the L'Exposition Internationale du Bruxelles in 1897, where it was thought by a reviewer to be 'an exquisite conception'.
Prynne's 'Ecce Ancilla Domini,' painted during the same year, was praised for its beauty, delicacy and composition. It was displayed at the Royal Society of British Artists exhibition in 1895. Both of these pictures were presented by Mr. C. Lang Huggins to St Mark's Church, Hadlow Down, Sussex.
'The Desire of all Nations', a depiction if the nativity is amongst Prynne's chief works and became extremely well-known. It was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1895, the reviewer in The Antiquary magazine noting that the painting would be suitable for display in a church setting. Such was the picture's destiny, for it was purchased by the Rev. Harry Wilson for St. Augustine's Church, Stepney, together with a set of Prynne's Stations of the Cross.
Final years and death
Representing the pinnacle of his painted devotional work, in 1918, the Anglican religious order the Cowley Fathers, approached Prynne to create a set of 14 painted Stations of the Cross for St John the Evangelist Church, Oxford. Prynne thought that the church "afforded a unique opportunity by reason of the splendid wall-space'' and regarded the commission as "a very great pleasure and high privilege," and over the next few years he and the Fathers wrangled over the details. The striking – although not unproblematic – set of images was finally installed in the church in 1921. The station depicting Christ's trial is based on Prynne's earlier picture, 'Christ Before Pilate', painted in 1898. The last four 'Stations' were the final paintings on which Prynne worked – the last painting he touched was the 'Entombment of Christ.'
On 29 January 1921, Prynne's eldest daughter, Beatrice, was married to Yule Crosby (1889–1977) at St Peter's Church, Ealing. Crosby was a South African mining engineer who met the Prynne family whilst he was working as a billeting officer in London during the First World War. The newly married couple emigrated to South Africa, and Edward never saw his daughter again, nor meet his grandchild (also called Beatrice), born the following year.
Just before his death, Prynne was included in an Illustrated Who's who of Notable Londoners – one of just 22 artists, including Edwin Lutyens and Philip de László. Other Londoners featured, included Winston Churchill and David Lloyd George.
Prynne died on 28 December 1921. He was buried in the churchyard of St Mary the Virgin Church, Hayes (where his brother, George Fellowes Prynne was also later buried). His obituary in The Builder magazine opined that:
"It is not too much to say that the death of Edward Arthur Fellowes Prynne on December 28 removes from the religious art world an artist of very exceptional ability, and one whose absolute sincerity and devotion to the highest ideals of his art are stamped upon every kind of work of a religious character that he undertook. [...] In his views on art generally he was very broad-minded, and always aimed at seeing the good points in a fellow-artist's work, if such there were, rather than offering severe criticism, and he always welcomed honest criticism of his own work. [...] In private life Mr. Prynne was a very attractive character, and had the power of making and retaining the friendship of others. He was intensely fond of music, and, aided by Mrs. Prynne, constantly entertained friends in a charmingly informal manner, and there are many who will look back with mingled feelings of pleasure and regret on the delightful musical evenings spent in that interesting and altogether fascinating studio."
Sale prices
In 1985 Prynne's 'Portrait of Mark Tucker' sold for £418 at auction. The same year 'a religious roundel' was sold for £4,000. In 1998, Prynne's painting, 'Enthroned', sold for $17,000.
Galleries and public collections
The Bishop's Palace, Exeter, holds a portrait of Frederick Temple (1821–1902), Bishop of Exeter (1869–1885), later Archbishop of Canterbury.
Russell-Cotes Art Gallery & Museum holds two pictures by Edward Fellowes Prynne.
Known church work
St Nicholas's Church Arundel (West Sussex). In 1895 Prynne also created a design for a wall painting depicting Christ in Glory, surrounded by apostles and saints, with adoring angels and symbols from the Revelations. This was never executed. St Nichola also has reredos panels attributed to Prynne; this is doubtful.
Bradfield St George (Suffolk). East window designed in 1913 by Prynne working for John J Jennings.
All Saints Church Bradford (Devon). 1905 altar panels by Prynne.
St Stephen's Church, St Stephen-in-Brannel (Cornwall). Three 1893/4 Prynne high altar panels depicting Jesus Christ as The Lamb and two censing angels. Church restored by George Fellowes Prynne, and altar designed by him.
St Peter's Church, Brighton. Three Prynne altar reredos panels depicting St Peter, St Andrew and the Risen Christ, painted in 1919.
St Peter's Church, Ealing, London. Prynne's well-known painting depicting 'Christ Before Pilate' dated 1898 was donated to the church in by his widow in 1922.
St Mary's, East Grinstead, West Sussex. Three altar panels by Prynne signed on the reverse with his name and monogram.
Church of All Saints, Elland, Yorkshire. Prynne designed the stained glass for this Church built by brother.
St Mark's Church, Hadlow Down, East Sussex. Prynne Painting of 'The Madonna of the Magnificat' completed Prynne in 1894 and exhibited at the Royal Academy,
St Mary the Virgin Church, Hayes, Middlesex. Prynne reredos panels painted in 1911.
St Mary the Virgin Church, Ilford, Essex. A complete set of fourteen Stations of the Cross was painted for the Vicar, the Rev. H. Eardley-Wilmot between 1916 and 1918. Prynne also painted three altar panels, depicting two angels and Jesus' resurrection in the centre installed in 1919
Other religious and allegorical work
Painting of St Barnabas. Purchased in 1889 as a dedication picture for the new St Barnabas Hospital in Saltash, Devon.
'Rex Judaeourum' (1898). The painted was listed for sale in 1908: 'Frynne, E. A. Fellowes (1893). "Rex Judroorum," 44 x 5?,^ (Wood). £21'.
Twixt Memory & Hope' (c. 1896). The painting depicts "a venerable pilgrim, painfully making his way through the thorns and briars of life, helped forward by a winged figure of Hope, whilst Memory lightly holds him by his girdle."
'Cophetua's Queen,' Eurydice,'
'Orpheus and Eurydice,'
'Pan and Syrinx'
' Silent Voices of the Studio.'
'Enthroned' (1889).
Portraits
Portrait of John F. Winnicott, from the collection of The Box (Plymouth City Council).
Portrait of James Atlay, Bishop of Hereford (1882). The picture was presented by the Diocese of Hereford on the completion of his 25-year episcopate, and was later in the possession of Mrs. Atlay.
Portrait of Frederick Temple, Bishop of Exeter, later Archbishop of Canterbury (1886).
Portrait of the Duke of Edinburgh, Alfred, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, second son of Queen Victoria. Mezzotint prints of the painting are held by the British Museum and the Royal Museums Greenwich (1892).
Portrait of The Reverend Henry William Hill (1892). In the collection of Chastleton House, National Trust, in Oxfordshire
Portrait of Mark Tucker. The painting was sold in 1985 for £418.