Pater, Walter |
| ART CRITIC, ESSAYIST (ENGLAND) |
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BORN 4 Aug 1839, London: Stepney - DIED 30 Jul 1894, Oxford, Oxfordshire BIRTH NAME Pater, Walter Horatio CAUSE OF DEATH rheumatic fever GRAVE LOCATION Oxford, Oxfordshire: Holywell Cemetery, St. Cross Road (next to St. Cross Church) |
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Walter Pater was the second son of Richard Glode, a doctor who worked for the poor. His father died soon after his birth. He was educated at Enfield and attended the King's School in Cambridge in 1853. There he read Ruskin's "Modern Painters". In 1858 he entered Queen's College. His career at Cambridge was uneventful and after he graduated he moved to Oxford to work as a teacher. He developed an interest in literature and started writing articles. He published essays on Coleridge, Leonardo da Vinci, Botticelli and Michelangelo. His writings were collected in "Studies in the History of the Renaissance". He was in the race for the Slade Professorship of Poetry at Oxford University but he withdrew his candicacy after he was criticised. He had tutored Gerald Manley Hopkins in Oxford and they remained friends. He also befriended some of the preraphaelite painters in London. By the time his novel "Marius the Epicurean" (1885) was published he had made himself a name in literary circles. More studies and essays followed. Oscar Wilde was influenced by him and honoured him in "The Critic as Artist" (1891). He suddenly died of rheumatic fever at his home in Oxford in 1894. Related persons • was a friend of Lee, Vernon • was influenced by Ruskin, John • influenced Wilde, Oscar |
| Images | |
 The grave of Walter Pater at Holywell Cemetery, Oxford. Picture by Androom (21 Oct 2012) |
 The grave of Walter Pater at Holywell Cemetery, Oxford. Picture by Androom (21 Oct 2012) |
Sources • Browning, D.C. (editor), Dictionary of Literary biography, Dent, London, 1958 • Walter Pater - Wikipedia (EN) |
