Palmer, Samuel

Palmer, Samuel, 1805–81, English landscape watercolorist, etcher, and mystic. Under the influence of William Blake he produced in sepia a series of remarkable visionary drawings of moonlit landscapes. Palmer is also known for his Italian and English landscapes in watercolor, his illustrations of Spenser and Milton, his translations of Vergil's Eclogues, and his etchings. He is represented in the National Gallery and the Victoria and Albert Museum, both in London.

Bibliography

See study by R. Lister (1969).

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Palmer, Samuel

(born Jan. 27, 1805, London, Eng.—died May 24, 1881, Redhill, Surrey) British painter and etcher. He began exhibiting conventional landscapes at the Royal Academy by 14. After converting to a personal form of High Anglicanism and discovering medieval art, he developed a visionary style, displaying a mystical but precise depiction of nature and an overflowing religious intensity, united by a vivid re-creation of the pastoral conventions. In these works he was encouraged and influenced by William Blake. As his religious fervour faded after 1830, the precarious balance between realism and vision was lost.