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Bell, John Zephaniah, RSA

1794 – 1883

Dundee-born, Bell was the son of a merchant. He began studying in the Royal Academy Schools in London in 1817 but did not complete the 10-year course. He moved to Paris where he enrolled in the prestigious Atelier of Antoine Gros. During his time in London Bell had not only became friendly with Sir David Wilkie but had also become his assistant. From Gros' Atelier bell travelled to Italy in 1825 and spent the next fifteen months there, coinciding with Wilkie's own Italian trip of 1826, sketching as he went. Critically Bell also became deeply interested in the early Italian frescoes and received tuition in the art of fresco painting from Anton von Gegenbaur, who later gave similar instruction to David Scott RSA. These two, alongside William Dyce were the only trained Scottish fresco painters of their generation, and Bell was commissioned to provide frescoes for a mansion house at Granton. Bell's decorative work was figurative and historical in subject matter. He was also a very able and quite distinctive portraitist. His failure to specialize in one of these fields probably contributed to his ultimate fall into obscurity - his death in London not even being afforded the usual nicety of an Obituary notice in the RSA Annual Reports, despite being one of the Academy's 24 original founding members. After a blighted career with the Manchester School of Design, Bell settled in London suffering the added travail of his son and namesake being admitted to the Bethlem Hospital. Bell junior was troubled by voices and held a strong dislike for both his parents. Bell was elected RSA in 1829.



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