Born in Framlingham, Suffolk 1823; Died in London 1879

Painter and etcher of landscapes and maritime subjects.

Edwin Edwards first trained as a lawyer before deciding to become a painter and etcher in the early 1860s. Edwards painted in both England and France, and counted among his friends contemporary Impressionist painters including Henri Fantin-Latour (1836-1904), Alphonse Legros (1837-1911), James Abbott McNeill Whistler (1834-1903) and Édouard Manet (1832-1883). Edwards produced many paintings and etchings of the Cornish, Devon and Suffolk coasts. Other subjects include English cathedral cities and London's busy river Thames. The Tate Collection holds one of his oil paintings depicting one such Thames subject (The Thames from a Wharf at Waterloo Bridge, c.1866, N01690). Tate also holds a portrait of the artist and his wife, painted by Fantin-Latour in 1875 (Mr and Mrs Edwin Edwards. N01952). Edwards was a frequent exhibitor at the Royal Academy, London, as well as at various Parisian salons.

Edwards is represented by public collections including Tate, Victoria and Albert Museum, and National Museum of Wales. Provincial collections include Aberdeen, Birmingham, Bury, Cambridge, Manchester, Nottingham, Norfolk, and Newcastle. French museums including the Musée d'Orsay in Paris also hold examples of his work.

Benjamin Angwin - September 2014