Edward Arthur Fellowes Prynne (1854–1921) was a leading British late Pre-Raphaelite painter of portraits and subject pictures, who in later life became one of the country's best-known creators of decorative art for churches.
Family and early life
Born in Plymouth on 14 October 1854, Prynne was the third son of Emily Fellowes (daughter of Admiral Sir Thomas Fellowes KCB DCL), and the Cornish Revd George Rundle Prynne, the notable tractarian and ritualist. His brother was the church architect George Fellowes Prynne. Prynne was educated at Eastman's Royal Naval Academy in Southsea, being originally intended for the navy. But at the suggestion of Frederic Leighton, he decided to embark on an artistic career. After preliminary training in art schools in London, he travelled to Antwerp, where he studied with the Belgian painter Charles Verlat. Subsequent study was undertaken in Florence, Paris and Rome.
Prynne married Emma Mary Joll in 1888, with whom he had two sons and three daughters: Beatrice Mary Fellowes Prynne (1893–1993), Dorothy Etheldreda Prynne (1894–1983), George Michael Fellowes Prynne (1896–1973), Stella Christine Marie Prynne (1898–1957) and John Rundle Fellowes Prynne (1903–1931). On moving to London in the 1880s, he lived at 8 Avonmore Road in Kensington Olympia (later home of the author Gavin Maxwell). He subsequently lived for over 20 years at 1 Woodville Road in Ealing. Prynne and his family became part of the community of artists living in Ealing. He was a member of Ealing Art Group, and was present at their first meeting in 1911. Prynne and his family attended St Peter's Church, Ealing.
Work
Prynne's early paintings show a clear debt to his teacher Charles Verlat. Soon after his return from the continent however, the artist fell under the influence of the Pre-Raphaelite school of painting, especially of Edward Burne-Jones, influencing the whole of his subsequent work.
Prynne excelled across a range styles and subjects. He was a highly skilled traditional portrait artist whose works were commissioned by members of the royal family and politicians. He painted over 60 portraits, including a commission to paint a life-size portrait of the Duke of Edinburgh, as Admiral of the Fleet. By command of Queen Victoria, he attended Osborne House to show this portrait, which was later hung in the Royal Naval Barracks at Devonport. Prynne also painted often almost psychedelic mythological and religious pictures. Notable among these were 'Cophetua's Queen,' 'Orpheus and Eurydice,' 'Pan and Syrinx,' and 'Silent Voices of the Studio.'
Religious work
Prynne shared the ardent Anglo Catholic faith of his father and brother, George Fellowes Prynne. He is principally celebrated for his religious art, which was commissioned and purchased for churches across the county – particularly in Devon and Cornwall. In many instances, Prynne's painted altar and reredos panels and stained-glass grace the churches designed and restored by his brother.
One of Prynne's most striking and original works is his altar piece, 'Benedicite Domino Laudate Et Superexaltate Eum in Saecula', which includes five painted panels illustrating separate lines from the canticle of creation. Here Prynne's mythological and religious worlds combine, notably in the panel depicting a sub-marine angel garbed in scales and delicate fish fin wings. The piece was shown in the Royal Society of British Artists 114th Exhibition in 1896; a reviewer commenting, 'Mr. E. A. Fellowes Prynne shows an altar-piece, "Benedicite," rich in colour and the artist's mannerisms'. Other artists highlighted for praise by the otherwise unimpressed reviewer included W. Graham Robertson, William Luker, and Tom Robertson.
Prynne's painting 'Magnificat,' appeared in 1894 in the New Gallery on Regents Street, London. Other exhibits included 'Love among the Ruins' by Edward Burne Jones, as well as work by work by Lawrence Alma-Tadema, George Frederic Watts, Leonard Leslie Brooke, Charles Edward Hallé, Edward Matthew Hale, Walter Crane, William Laidlay, John Roddam Spencer Stanhope, George Hitchcock, Frank William Brangwyn, Andrew Brown Donaldson, George Henry Boughton, Arthur Lemon, George Howard, 9th Earl of Carlisle, Edward Poynter, William Llewellyn (painter), William Logsdail, Philip Norman (artist), Clara Montalba, William Wontner and George Frampton. 'Magnificat' also appeared at the L'Exposition Internationale du Bruxelles in 1897, where it was thought by a reviewer to be 'an exquisite conception'.