thumb|upright|[[St. George and the Dragon – Rivière's depiction of an exhausted St. George lying down beside the slain dragon is a radical departure from the triumphant equestrian position in which this saint is traditionally depicted.]]

Briton Rivière (14 August 1840 – 20 April 1920) was a British artist of Huguenot descent. He exhibited a variety of paintings at the Royal Academy, but devoted much of his life to animal paintings.

Biography

Briton's father, William Rivière (1806–1876), was for some years drawing-master at Cheltenham College, and then an art teacher at the University of Oxford. Briton was educated at Cheltenham College and Oxford, where he took his degree in 1867. For his art training he was indebted almost entirely to his father. His paternal uncle Henry Parsons Rivière (1811–1888) was also a noted watercolourist, exhibiting works at the Royal Watercolour Society, London and the Royal Birmingham Society of Artists.

His first pictures appeared at the British Institution, and in 1857 he exhibited three works at the Royal Academy, but it was not until 1863 that he became a regular contributor to the Academy exhibitions. In that year he was represented by The eve of the Spanish Armada, and in 1864 by a Romeo and Juliet. However, subjects of this kind did not attract him long, for in 1865 he began, with Sleeping Deerhound, a series of paintings of animal-subjects which occupied much of the rest of his life.

[[File:Briton Rivière by J. P. Mayall.jpg|thumb|Rivière by J. P. Mayall from Artists at Home, published 1884, Department of Image Collections, National Gallery of Art Library, Washington, DC]]

Early in his career, Rivière made some mark as an illustrator, beginning with Punch. He was elected an Associate of the Royal Academy of Arts in 1878, and a Royal Academician in 1881, and received the degree of Doctor of Civil Law at Oxford in 1891. Metropolitan Museum of Art, Royal Holloway, University of London and Chrysler Museum of Art.

These include:

  • Argus (1873)
  • War Time (1874; Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, Virginia: 2011.9)
  • Sympathy (c.1878)
  • 'There's many a slip twixt the cup and the lip' (1881)

<gallery>

File:Daniel in the Lions' Den, by Briton Rivière.jpg|Daniel in the Lions' Den (1872; Walker Art Gallery)

File:Briton Rivière (War Time).png|War Time (1874; Chrysler Museum of Art)

File:Briton Riviere (1840-1920) - An Anxious Moment - THC0062 - Royal Holloway, University of London.jpg|An Anxious Moment (1878, Royal Holloway

File:Daniel's Answer to the King, by Briton Riviere, GMIII MCAG 1937 123-001.jpg|Daniel's Answer to the King (1890; Manchester Art Gallery)

Image:Briton Rivière - Requiescat - Google Art Project.jpg|Requiescat (1888; Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney)

</gallery>

References

Sources

  • Armstrong, Sir Walter (1891). Briton Rivière, R.A; His Life and Work, The Art Annual.

Further reading

  • Profile on Royal Academy of Arts Collections