Robert Braithwaite Martineau (1826 - 1869)

Born in London in 1826, Robert Martineau was the son of a taxing-master. Educated at University College, London, Martineau was articled to a firm of solicitors, but abandoned law in favour of art. After attending Cary's art school, he became a student at the Royal Academy in 1848, winning a silver medal for drawing from the antique.

Late in 1851 he approached Hunt, agreed to take him as a pupil in painting, having ascertained that "to him the lucrativeness of the pursuit was not at first a vital question". They became close friends, and Hunt enjoyed painting at the country house belonging to Martineau's father. In Hunt's studio Martineau painted his first important oil, 'Kit's Writing Lesson' (Tate Gallery, London), which was well placed and sold at the Royal Academy, in 1852.

Martineau essentially remained a competent genre painter with Pre-Raphaelite sympathies, and his pictures encompassed a similar range, from medieval and Shakespearean themes to modern-day subjects. His masterpiece is 'The Last Day in the Old Home' (Tate Gallery, London), which proved such a popular success at the International Exhibition of 1862 that it was sent on a nationwide tour. In 1865 he married Maria Wheeler, who bore him three children. He died suddenly of heart disease, on 13 February 1869, leaving unfinished the large oil 'Christians and Christians' (Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool).