William Powell Frith

William Powell Frith (born January 9, 1819, Aldfield, Yorkshire, England—died November 2, 1909, London) was an English painter famous for his crowded scenes of contemporary English life, executed with a preciseness of technique akin to that of the Pre-Raphaelites.

Frith entered the Royal Academy school in 1837, and in 1840 he exhibited there his first picture, Malvolio Before the Countess Olivia. He quickly gained wide popularity. Elected associate of the Royal Academy in 1845 and a member in 1852, he established his reputation with a succession of large compositions of everyday English life, the first of which, Ramsgate Sands (Life at the Seaside) (1851–54), was bought by Queen Victoria. His most memorable works of the period include The Derby Day (1856–58) and The Railway Station (c. 1862). Frith later turned to moralizing works exemplified by a series of five paintings under the general title The Race for Wealth (1880).