Letter from William Powell Frith to Henry Keyworth Raine, December 13, 1907

Part of a collection of 21 letters sent by William Powell Frith to his great nephew Henry Keyworth Raine, dating from March 16, 1890 to March 29, 1908. William Powell Frith (1819-1909), painter of historical and genre works, including large canvases such as Derby Day (1858). “The Race for Wealth” comprises five paintings, all based around a fictional central character, a corrupt financier called The Spider, and all dealing with the theme of reckless financial speculation. Inspired by characters found in the novels of Charles Dickens and Anthony Trollope, The Spider persuades his victims to invest in dubious schemes. Often compared with Hogarth’s “The Rake’s Progress,” “The Race for Wealth” portrays The Spider’s initial success, his unmasking, his trial, and ends with his imprisonment. This letter shows praise from William to Henry on his latest work, and notes that even though Henry is a relative, that did not influence his judgement.

In Collection:

• 19th Century Manuscripts Collection

Creator

• Frith, William Powell, 1819-1909

Contributor

• Raine, Henry Keyworth

Subject

• Artists
• Painters--Correspondence
• Painters
• Artists--Correspondence
• Families
• Artists--Family relationships

Language

• eng

Identifier

• Number on first page of letter: 20

Date created

• December 13, 1907

Resource type

• Text

Rights statement

• No Copyright - Non-Commercial Use Only

Extent

• 2 pages ; 15 x 20 cm, folded to 15 x 10 cm

Geographic coverage

• England--London

Coordinates

• 51.50853, -0.12574

Additional physical characteristics

• Handwritten in black ink. Address letterhead on right hand side: "114, Clifton Hill, N.W.".

Physical repository

• University of Victoria (B.C.). Library

Collection

• 19th Century Manuscripts

Provider

• University of Victoria (B.C.). Library

Genre

• correspondence
• letters (correspondence)

Archival item identifier

• Accession Number: 2022-007

Fonds title

• Peter Lowens collection

Fonds identifier

• SC564

Is referenced by

• Special Collections Finding Aid: https://uvic2.coppul.archivematica.org/peter-lowens-collection

Date digitized

• February 10, 2022

Technical note

• Scanned on Plustek OpticBook A300 at 600 DPI Tiff. Items cropped and resized for Vault. Metadata by MT.

Rights

• Contact Special Collections and University Archives for access to the original. This material is made available on this site for research and private study only.

DOI

•  https://doi.org/10.58066/gpz7-zg30

Thumbnail	Title	Date Uploaded	Visibility	Actions
	2022-007_FrithALS_20_01		Public	Press to Select an action Download
	2022-007_FrithALS_20_02		Public	Press to Select an action Download