Hubert von Herkomer

Sir Hubert von Herkomer (born as Hubert Herkomer; 26 May 1849 – 31 March 1914) was a Bavarian-born British painter, pioneering film-director, and composer. Though a very successful portrait artist, especially of men, he is mainly remembered for his earlier works that took a realistic approach to the conditions of life of the poor. Hard Times (1885; Manchester Art Gallery) showing the distraught family of a travelling day-labourer at the side of a road, is one of his best-known works. Early life and education Herkomer was born on 26 May 1849 at Waal, in the Kingdom of Bavaria, the son of Lorenz Herkomer, a wood-carver of great ability, and his wife Josephine Niggl. His family was poor, and his mother tried to supplement his father's earnings by giving music lessons. Once his mother gave him a half sovereign for some shopping: "It was the last piece of gold in the place. I lost it. My parents were in despair". Lorenz Herkomer left Bavaria in 1851 with his wife and child for the United States, settling in Cleveland, Ohio. They soon returned to Europe and in 1857 settled in Southampton at 10, Windsor Terrace, where the family spent seventeen years before moving to Watford. Hubert's education was slight: "He went to school for a month or two, and, falling ill never returned". In 1861, Herkomer's father was recorded at that address as an artist aged 47 and his mother as a 39-year-old teacher of music. In a lengthy interview for the boys' annual Chums in 1896, Herkomer recalled his childhood: "We had an anxious time of it when I was a boy. We were constantly in want of money..... I was always inclined to art, and as a little boy worked principally at my father's bench, but by the time I had turned twelve I had produced quite a number of water-colour drawings. The reputation I gained among my play fellows, however, was as a maker of kites". He also crafted mechanical toys including clowns and wagons to give to his friends. While in Southampton, Herkomer went to the school of art there and began his formal art training. An uncle in the United States commissioned his father to carve the Four Evangelists in wood. Receiving some money, his father determined to take Hubert to Munich, so that he could study art there while his father worked on the carvings. In his Chums interview thirty years later, Herkomer recalled the trip vividly: "Ah, how I remember that first visit to Germany! ... We crossed to Antwerp in a cattle boat ...