John Collier

John Collier painted in a sharp, highly finished style with strong, sometimes surprising colour. He worked in two main fields: portraits of well-known Victorians and Edwardians, and dramatic subject pictures drawn from history, myth and legend.

He was born in London in 1850, educated at Eton, and studied painting in Paris under Jean-Paul Laurens and at the Munich Academy. He knew the Pre-Raphaelite circle well and absorbed its clear detail and rich colour. His best known pictures include Lady Godiva, at the Herbert Art Gallery in Coventry, and Clytemnestra at the Guildhall Art Gallery. A Glass of Wine with Caesar Borgia, from 1893, belongs to Ipswich and shows his taste for historical drama with an undercurrent of menace.

The National Portrait Gallery in London holds many of his portraits, including sitters such as Charles Darwin and Thomas Huxley. In his figure pictures, look for the crisp fabrics and the direct, unflinching way faces are painted.