Herbert Draper

Herbert James Draper (1863-1920) was an English Neoclassicist painter whose career began in the Victorian era and extended through the first two decades of the 20th century.

Born in Covent Garden, London, the seventh child and only son of a fruit merchant named John James Draper and his wife Emma, Draper was educated at Bruce Castle School in Tottenham and then went on to study art at the Royal Academy. He undertook several educational trips to Rome and Paris between 1888 and 1892, having won the Royal Academy Gold Medal and Travelling Studentship in 1889. In the 1890s, he worked as an illustrator, eventually settling in London. In 1891, he married Ida (née Williams), with whom he had a daughter, Yvonne.

Draper's most productive period began in 1894. He focused mainly on mythological themes from ancient Greece. His painting The Lament for Icarus (1898) won the gold medal at the Exposition Universelle in Paris in 1900 and was later bought for the Tate Gallery by the Chantrey Trustees. He was also responsible for the decoration of the ceiling of the Drapers' Hall in the City of London. His draftsmanship was excellent in sensuous portrayals of both male and female nudes; several of his paintings portray proud, in some cases predatory female sexuality, for example The Gates of Dawn (1899), The Water Nixie (1908), Ulysses and the Sirens (1909) and The Kelpie (1913).

In later years, as public tastes changed and mythological scenes became less popular, he concentrated more on portraits. Among his portrait subjects are the army officer Sir William Edmund Franklyn, Lucius O'Brien, 15th Baron Inchiquin, his wife and his eldest son Donough as a young boy, the physician Philip Pye-Smith (commissioned by Guy's Hospital), the actress June Tripp (twice), in addition to his wife, who may also have served as the model for his Autumn. Draper was well-known as a portrait painter. At a charity auction for the Red Cross in 1918, his offer to paint a child's portrait brought in a bid of £250, equivalent to £15,383 in 2023.

Draper took part in the annual expositions of the Royal Academy from 1890 onwards. He was proposed for membership in 1898, 1903, 1905 and 1920, but was passed over for election. In his last years, his popularity faded, though there has recently been a revival of interest in his work on the art market. 

Draper died of arteriosclerosis at the age of 56, in his home on Abbey Road.