FRITH, WILLIAM POWELL, R.A., an eminent English artist, the son of an innkeeper at Ripon, Yorkshire, was b. in that town in 1819. In 1840, he first exhibited, at the royal, academy, London, a scene from Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, " Mal volio before the Countess Olivia," which at once attracted attention, as giving promise of future excel lence. In 1841, his painting of the g' Parting Interview o f Leicester and his Countess Amy," from Scott's Kenilworth, evinced a marked improvement inhis style and manner. Thenceforth he rose rapidly in public estimation, and his subsequent' productions amply confirmed the high anticipations that had been formed of his skill and power. Among the paintings exhibited by him in successive years were the following: "My Wife would bid both stand up to sec which was the Tallest," a scene from the Vicar of Wakefield, in 1842; "English Merry-making a Hundred Years ago," in 1847; "An Old Woman Accused of 'Witchcraft in the Time of James I.," in 1848; and "Coming of Age," in
1849; etc. F. was elected an associate of the academy in 1845, and a royal academician :n 1853. In 1854, his "Life at the Seaside " was one of the leading features of the exhi bition. "The Derby Day," exhibited in 1858, and "Claude Duval," in 1860, are two of his most successful pictures. For the " Railway Station " (1862) he is said to have received 8,700 guineas. In 1865, he painted the "Marriage of the Prince of Wales." The series called the " Road to Ruin " was produced in 1878. F. was elected an honorary member of the imperial academy of fine arts at Vienna in 1869; of the royal academy of Bel gium in 1871; and of the royal academy of Sweden in 1873.