English artist John Callcott Horsley (1817-1903) (60 works)

English artist, musician, born in London on January 29, 1817. He studied painting at the Academy, and in 1836 his works were exhibited at the Royal Academy.

In 1840, when government official Sir Henry Cole came up with an original greeting for loved ones - a Christmas card, John Horsley illustrated it with his original drawings. He came up with the idea of decorating a postcard (12x7 cm) with a real Christmas triptych: in the center the artist placed the family of Sir Henry Cole sitting at the Christmas table, and on the sides he placed pictures designed to remind others of the mercy and compassion of this respectable English family. The postcard was a wild success.

In 1844 the author was selected as one of six artists commissioned to paint frescoes for the Houses of Parliament. In 1864 he became a member of the Academy, and in 1882 he was elected treasurer, a position he held until 1897, when he later resigned and became an honorary academician. Horsley did much to organize the Old Masters Exhibition at Burlington after 1870. Died 1903