Samuel Palmer (1805-1881)

An English landscape painter, etcher and print maker, Palmer was born in Newington, London on January 27, 1805. Palmer painted churches from around age twelve, and first exhibited Turner-inspired works at the Royal Academy at the age of fourteen. He had little formal training, and did not have a formal schooling, although he was educated briefly at Merchant Taylors' School.

Palmer became an artist at a young age and was strongly influenced throughout his career by the work of his friend and mentor William Blake. Palmer's early work was partly shaped by his interest in the 'primitive' artists of the fifteenth and sixteenth century. For a time, he lived in the Kent village...