Biography for Samuel Palmer

Employment

Palmer was born into a family of deeply religious Baptists, who taught him a love of ritual and religious observance which remained with him throughout his life. Palmer's talent was recognised very early and, before he was 14, he had three pictures accepted for exhibition at the Royal Academy. By the time he was 18 he had turned away from the austerity of the Baptist church to the Church of England, inspired by its great cathedrals and potent music and liturgy. In 1822 he met John Linnell (1792-1882), a somewhat eccentric but gifted artist, and the friend and patron of William Blake (1757-1827). Palmer was to marry Linnell's daughter, but the turning point for him as an artist, came in 1824, when he met the revered Blake for the first time. Palmer said of Blake that he had taught him to perceive 'the soul of beauty through the forms of matter' and, having studied some tiny wood-engravings Blake had made to illustrate an edition of Virgil in 1821, exclaimed that 'They are visons of little dells, and nooks, and corners of Paradise.'
Much of Palmer's finest work was done during a period living in rural seclusion at Shoreham in Kent in the early 1830s, but later in life he regained much of the youthful intensity and visionary quality which he brought to his work at that time. He also became an outstanding etcher with his few plates being recognised as masterpieces of the medium.