Francis Sydney Muschamp RBA was a British artist predominantly known for his imagined domestic scenes with figures dressed in period costume. He also painted landscapes and portraits.

Hailing from Hull in Yorkshire, Muschamp moved with his family to London early in life, where he was probably taught to paint by his father, Francis Muschamp Senior. He was an accomplished figure painter and his oeuvre is decorated with beautifully rendered interiors, sweeping dresses, and maidens captivated by Arthurian romance.

In some respects, he appears influenced by the Aesthetic Movement but balances this with a traditional Victorian narrative. As such, his works were popular with middle-class buyers, particularly at his peak.

He exhibited at the Royal Academy and the Royal Society of British Artists, where he was a member.

Exhibited

Royal Academy, Royal Society of British Artists, Sheffield Society of Artists.

Public Collections

Lancaster City Museum, National Trust at Stourhead, Scarborough Art Gallery.

Timeline

1851

Born in Hull to Francis Muschamp, a landscape painter, and Harriet Muschamp.

1870

Debuted at the Royal Society of British Artists.

1871

Lived in St Pancras, London, with his parents, sister and staff.

1881

Lived in St Pancras, London, with his parents, sister, wife and staff.

1883

Reviewed in The Sheffield Daily Telegraph following an exhibition of the Sheffield Society of Artists.

“Going back to ‘At the fall of the Leaf’ we have a picture by Sydney Muschamp, whose work is not surpassed in the exhibition, and who paints in a style that at once shows his keen knowledge and delight in the varying moods of nature and a powerful faculty for adapting the highest forms of life, especially rustic life, to the purposes of art. The woodland and the rough and stony foreground are perfectly treated, while it would seem to be no uncommonly marvellous performance if the old man, who is walking along an uneven pathway, were to commence kicking the fallen leaves about, so natural is the effect.

The figures of the old man and of the maiden who is seated in the foreground, are exquisitely drawn. ‘The Midday Meal’ is an equally clever picture by the same artist, who also contributes ‘In the Chequered Shade’, two young ladies seated on a lawn lazily whiling away the hours of a ‘perfect day’ surrounded by a mass of floral beauty arranged with all that symmetrical precision which gardeners pride. The subject is a difficult one, treated with consummate ability, even to the slightest detail.”

1884

Debuted at the Royal Academy.

1889

Mentioned in the Glasgow Evening News.

“There are several commendable pictures in the Collection being disposed of today, tomorrow, and Wednesday by Messrs. M'Coll Brothers & Co., in their rooms at 52 Renfield Street. One of the best is entitled ‘Exchange is no Robbery’, a work by Sydney Muschamp, depicting a country bumpkin changing his tattered chapeau for one which is in a better condition adorning the pole of a scarecrow. The humour of the little incident is well brought out.”

1889

Reviewed in the Sheffield and Rotherham Independent following an exhibition of the Sheffield Society of Artists.

“Sydney Muschamp, an admirable artist whose work is always clever and effective, is represented by three pictures. Two of these are delightful scenes on the Thames, painted with true artistic feeling and with much executive skill. The other, ‘A Roman Amateur’, is, as its name implies, a work of a different kind. It is the interior of a Roman villa, with a girl in the foreground playing a couple of pipes. The figure is splendidly drawn, and in this respect it is perhaps the best in the exhibition. Note how cleverly and delicately the artist has painted the fingers as they fall on the holes in the instruments; and how carefully and effectively all the details in the room are rendered. The colour, too, is excellent. This is a work fit for any exhibition.”

1891

Lived in Hampstead, London, with his wife, brother-in-law and sister.

1893

Elected a member of the Royal Society of British Artists.

1894

Reviewed in The Graphic following an exhibition of the Royal Society of British Artists.

“A recently elected member of the society, Mr. Sydney Muschamp, shows originality of conception and a great deal of technical accomplishment in a picture of a hideous old witch examining the hand of a maid, who is horrified by her predictions, ‘Chiromancy.’ The composition is excellent, and the flickering glow of firelight on the figures is most skilfully rendered.”

1899

Mentioned in the South Wales Daily News.

“A good opportunity presents itself this week in Cardiff for the purchase of some really first-class oil paintings and water colours at reasonable prices. At 15, High-street, Mr Morris L. Cohen, the well-known dealer in works of art, Brighton, is showing a collection of about 150 frames. These include works by such notable artists as Muschamp, Schafer, Niemann, Horace Hooper, T. R. Miles, and Stoiloff, and all are for sale by private treaty. Among the more conspicuous works are the following: A magnificently executed interior by Sydney Muschamp showing a wonderfully reproduced tapestry in the background, and four well-drawn, naturally posed, classically draped female figures in the foreground.”

1901

Lived in Hampstead, London, with his wife, son, two boarders and staff.

1911

Lived in Hampstead, London, with his wife, and servant.

1929

Died in Earls Court Square, London.