Alfred Glendening Biography

Glendening was a Victorian landscape artist and was born in London , where began his adult life as a railway clerk.  Not much information exists to explain when and where Glendening received his artistic interest and training, but in 1864 he exhibited his first painting at The Royal Society of British Artists, Morning on Grassmore Lake.  From that point on, Glendening became a frequent exhibitor at the Society, as well as the Royal Academy (RA) – exhibiting his first oil painting there, A Cornfield – Kent, in 1865.  Among his other important paintings were Summer Evening (RA -1867), The Thames at Hampton (RA – 1873), Sunbury (RA – 1877), Belugh on the Bure, Norfolk (RA – 1889) and In the Meadows, Youngsbury (RA – 1900)
 
The English landscape was Glendening's specialty – depicting views of the Thames and scene paintings of Wales and Scotland.  These Glendening paintings often featured small figures by the riverside or swans on the water.  Light comes from outside the painting, filtering its way through a beautiful blue and white sky and casts soft shadows in the water.  Glendening's landscape paintings are filled with subtle shades of color and the water often cuts across the painting and vanishes around a turn in the background.
 
Alfred Glendening continued to exhibit paintings in London through 1903 – showing more than 130 oil paintings in all.