Cornelius Varley

William Gell, by Cornelius Varley, 1816 (National Portrait Gallery).

Cornelius Varley (21 November 1781 – 2 October 1873) was an English water-colour painter.

Biography

Varley was born at Hackney, London, on the 21 November 1781. He was a younger brother of John Varley, a watercolour painter and astrologer, and a close friend of William Blake, he was born in Hackney, London. He was educated by his uncle, a scientific instrument maker, and under him acquired a knowledge of the natural sciences. Around 1800, he joined his brother in a tour through Wales, and began the study of art. He was soon engaged in teaching drawing. From 1803 to 1859 he was an occasional exhibitor at the Royal Academy and he also contributed regularly to the displays of the Water-Colour Society, of which, in 1803, he was one of the founders, and of which he continued a member until 1821.^[1] He died in Hampstead on the 2 October 1873.^[2]

Works

Varley's works consist mainly of carefully finished classical subjects, with architecture and figures. He published a series of etchings of boats and other craft on the River Thames, and during his life as an artist he continued deeply interested in scientific pursuits. For his improvements in the camera lucida, the camera obscura and the microscope he received the Isis Gold Medal of the Society of Arts and at the Great Exhibition he gained a medal for his invention of the graphic telescope.^[3]

Family

In 1821 Varley married Elizabeth Straker.^[4] They He had ten children including S. A. Varley,^{[citation needed]} and telegraph engineer Cromwell Fleetwood Varley.^[4]

See also

• List of astronomical instrument makers

Notes

1. ^ Chisholm 1911, p. 921.
2. ^ Chisholm 1911, p. 922.
3. ^ Chisholm 1911, pp. 921,922.
4. ^ ^{a b} Monkhouse 1889, p. 149.

References

•  Monkhouse, William Cosmo (1899). "Varley, Cornelius". In Sidney Lee. Dictionary of National Biography. 58. London: Smith, Elder & Co. pp. 148, 149. 

Attribution

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed (1911). "Varley, Cornelius". Encyclopædia Britannica. 27 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 921,922. 

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Name	Varley, Cornelius
Alternative names
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Date of birth	21 November 1781
Place of birth
Date of death	2 October 1873
Place of death