William Drake, 1817-1890
Nationality: British
Date of Birth: 1817
Place of Death: London
Identity:
Sir William Drake was the Secretary of the Painter-Etcher's Society. In 1847 he married Katherine Stewart Forbes Goodwin.
Life:
Drake was Treasurer of the County Courts in 1862. For many years he had a close relationship with the Whips and leaders of the Liberal party. He became a Senior member of the Council in Bombay. He was awarded the Order of SS. Maurizio e Lazzaro of the Corona d'Italia, the Iron Crown of Austria and the Medjidieé (second class). Drake lived until his death in 1890 at 12 Prince's Gardens, South Kensington.
In 1881 Whistler was in correspondence with Drake, who was the Secretary of the newly formed Painter Etcher's Society. In the spring of 1881, the Society held an exhibition at the Hanover Gallery. However, when Frank Duveneck (1848-1919), submitted three Venice etchings, Francis Seymour Haden, Sr (1818-1910), who was President of the Society, suspected that they were in fact by JW. Anxious to compare the etchings with those that JW had been printing for the Fine Art Society, Haden, Alphonse Legros (1837-1911), and Dr Hamilton, paid a visit to the Society's gallery. Whistler was indignant when he heard of the visit as he regarded it as an attack on his artistic integrity. A lengthy correspondence ensued. It was eventually published in a pamphlet, Whistler, James McNeill, The Piker Papers. The Painter-Etchers' Society and Mr Whistler, London, 1881.
Bibliography:
Kelly's London Post Office Directory, London, 1861, 1862; Kensington etc Directory for 1882, London, 1884, et seq.; Annual Register, London, 1890, p. 203; Lugt, Frits, Les marques de collections de dessins et d'estampes: marques estampillèes et écrites de collections particulières et publiques; marques de marchands, de monteurs et d'imprimeurs; etc..., Amsterdam, 1921, nos. 723, 773; Hopkinson, Martin, No Day Without a Line: The History of the Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers 1880-1999, Oxford, 1999, pp. 13-14, 51.