Philip Richard Morris

Philip Richard Morris (4 December 1836 in Devonport – 22 April 1902 at 92 Clifton Hill, Maida Vale, London) was an English painter of genre and maritime scenes (particularly allegorical ones of rural life), Holman Hunt-influenced religious paintings and (later in his career) portraits.

Life

Taken to London aged 14 by his iron-founder father to train for the family trade, Philip became increasingly interested in art and, with William Holman Hunt winning round his father, began taking evening drawing classes in the British Museum and (from 1855) in the Royal Academy Schools. At the latter, he used the travelling studentship he won for his The Good Samaritan to fund a journey to Italy and France, remaining there until 1864.

He was elected an associate of the Royal Academy in 1877 (despite his talents and health already being on the wane), though he resigned it in 1900. In 1878 he married a widow, Catherine Sargeantson, the daughter of J. Evans of Llangollen, they had two sons and three daughters. Catherine died in 1886, his daughter Florence married the archaeologist Alexander Keiller and his eldest daughter, Gladys Morris (1879–1946), married the noted British sportsman, journalist and editor, Bertram Fletcher Robinson.