Frederick Morgan

Frederick Morgan painted Victorian childhood: children at play, with pets and dolls, picking apples and gathered round grandparents, set in gardens and sunny countryside. His pictures are sweet natured, carefully finished and full of small domestic details.

He was born in London, the son of the genre painter John Morgan, who taught him. He showed at the Royal Academy at sixteen, and a period working for a portrait photographer taught him close observation. From 1874 the London dealers Thomas Agnew and Sons bought his work, and one of his pictures, His Turn Next, was used to advertise Pears’ Soap. He worked mainly around Shere in Surrey and in Normandy. His paintings are in the Walker Art Gallery and the Lady Lever Art Gallery near Liverpool.

Grandfather’s Birthday and A Day on the River show his happy, family centred view of life.