MORLAND, nuir'lrd, George, English painter: b. London, 26June 1763; d. there, 29 Oct. 1804. His father,himself a painter, gave the boy a severe early training in art, and his proficiency was such that his productions found ready purchasers, while at 10 he exhibited in the Royal Academy and became famous as a copyist of Dutch interiors. Soon after he re belled against the strict discipline of his father's house, and entered upon a career of dissipa tion, in the company of stable-boys, money lenders, pimps and pugilists, supporting himself, meanwhile, by the pictures which he painted with amazing facility. So great was his pro ductivity, that he was able to paint one or two pictures daily, and on one occasion completed a large landscape containing six figures, in six hours. The demand for his work was so great that dealers would take them before the oils had dried. In 1786 he took up his residence at Kensal Green, where he changed his mode of life and married the sister of James Ward, the animal painter, and William Ward, the en graver. Here he worked hard, and the moral subjects, after the manner of Hogarth, which he favored at this period, were engraved and became very popular. Soon again, however, he drifted back into his old habits, and, as his pictures were eagerly sought by the dealers, he was able for some time to carry on his reckless career. He had to make many changes of residence to avoid his creditors; and at length. in 1799, he was arrested for debt, but
°obtained the rules of the Bench," took a house within the bounds and continued to practise his art up to his release in 1802. In his later days he suffered from a palsied hand. Under arrest for debt, he died in a sponging-house. His epitaph for himself was, °Here lies a drunken dog." The art of Ivforland is char acterized by a picturesque representation of rural life in its homelier aspects, his rustic story being always happily conceived and skil fully told. He is one of the first genre and animal painters of the English school, and his reputation has increased of recent years. He painted about 4,000 pictures, 192 of which were engraved during his lifetime. Six of his best paintings are in the Kensington Museum and the 'Farmhouse Stable' in the National Gallery is sometimes considered his master piece. The New York Historical Society pos sesses his 'Old English Sportsman' and 'Dogs Fighting' ; the Metropolitan Museum the 'Mid day Meal' and 'Weary Wayfarers' and the Corcoran Gallery, Washington, 'The Farm house.' Consult Collins, W., 'Memoirs for Picture' (1803) ; and memoirs or biographies by Dawe (1807) Gilbert and Cuming (1907); Richardson, Ralph (1895) ; Williamson, G. C. (1904) and Wilson, D. H. (1907).