Student Artwork Guide
Copyright This work is in the public domain. Charles Fairfax Murray died in 1919; copyright lasts 70 years after the artist’s death, so it ended in 1989.
In context
Mandolin Player — Charles Fairfax Murray
The original measures 24 × 24 cm (height × width), drawn here beside an adult of average height.
Row above: the years. Row below: how old the artist was at the start and at the end of each span — 0 at birth, 70 at death.
Shaded: the lifetime of Charles Fairfax Murray (1849–1919) every dated painting, decade by decade
First works: up to 1871 Main working years: 1871–1879 Late works: from 1879
Those three bands split the works this catalogue has a date for into a first quarter, a middle half and a last quarter. They are not the artist’s complete output: a thin stretch may be a gap in the record rather than a quiet spell. The same years with the artist’s life laid along them
This record has no exact year on file — using the artist's lifetime and the work's style, what decade would you guess?
Pick one work above: name two things it shares with this one, and one thing that's different.
More works to set beside this one: originaluniqueart.com/en/art/similar/charles-fairfax-murray-mandolin-player-AQSNNF-en/
Measured from the image
Main colour
Walnut #604d11
Catalogued palette
These colours inside the artist’s whole palette Find other paintings by colour
The ten leading countries
Find the three darkest countries on the map. Is the museum that keeps this painting in any of them? Write down one reason people far away might look at it.
Together these works take 100.0% of all the attention this artist's paintings received over the last twelve months. The catalogue holds 15 works by this artist, of which 4 were looked at at least once. This painting ranks 1 of them, with 25.0% of that attention. The same counts, month by month
Bars measure attention, not quality. Pick the work at the top and this one: name one thing that might make a painting famous beyond how well it is painted.
Artist and museum
charles fairfax murray, a renowned english painter, dealer, collector, benefactor, and art historian, was born in 1849 in bow, near london. he grew up in sudbury, suffolk, where he studied drawing, possibly under thomas gainsborough's great nephew, gainsborough dupont.
at the age of 12, murray was employed in the drawing office of the railway entrepreneurs peto & betts and was taken into sir samuel morton peto's home to draw portraits of his family. he was later introduced to john ruskin at the age of 16 and installed as edward burne-jones's first studio assistant in 1867. murray rapidly became one of the circle of pre-raphaelite founder dante gabriel rossetti, and a friend of william morris and philip webb.
mandolin player (24 x 24 cm, oil on panel), a painting by murray, showcases his skill as an artist. (view on AllPaintingsStore)
his association with the pre-raphaelites led to contributions to giovanni cavalcaselle's history of north italian painting.
murray also partnered with dr wilhelm von bode, director of berlin's gemaldegalerie, and london dealers thomas agnew.
murray's aim was always to put his works into public collections. in 1904, he sold his collection of over eight hundred pre-raphaelite drawings to the birmingham museum and art gallery. he also gifted several notable paintings, including titian's tarquin and lucretia, to the fitzwilliam museum in cambridge. notable donations:
the kings' daughters (26 x 37 cm, oil on panel), a painting by murray, is now part of a museum collection. (view on AllPaintingsStore)
more than a dozen constables and four early gainsboroughs were donated to the fitzwilliam museum.
a collection of 46 english portraits was given to the dulwich picture gallery.
charles fairfax murray died in london in january 1919, following a series of strokes, leaving behind a legacy as a connoisseur and benefactor of the art world. view charles fairfax murray's profile on AllPaintingsStore oxford's history on wikipedia
originaluniqueart.com/en/art/download/charles-fairfax-murray-mandolin-player-AQSNNF-en/
Look closely
Mandolin Player — Charles Fairfax Murray
Answer in your own words. There are no wrong answers here — only answers you can explain.
Write a short paragraph about this artwork. Use the facts from the earlier parts of this guide, and your answers above.
The colors of "Mandolin Player" show a dark luminance.
"Mandolin Player" by Charles Fairfax Murray is in the public domain - its copyright has expired. Copyright duration runs from the artist's death, which occurred in 1919.
Works similar to "Mandolin Player" are listed on the artwork's Similars page.