Stanley Royle was a post-impressionist English landscape painter and illustrator who lived for most of his life in and around Sheffield (England) and Canada. A member of the Royal Society of British Artists, he was inspired by sweeping landscapes, sea and snow scenes.
Stanley Royle RCA (Royal Canadian Academy of Arts), RBA (Royal Society of British Artists), ARWEA, the grandfather of Anthea, Stephen and Lucy Copleston was Born at Stalybridge, Cheshire - he had three sisters and a brother. In 1893 the family moved to Ecclesfield, a rural outlying district of Sheffield in South Yorkshire where his father became the stationmaster at Ecclesfield railway station.
His elder cousin, Herbert Royle, who was already a highly successful landscape painter, encouraged the young Stanley to pursue his interest in art as a career and in 1904 Stanley began studying at the Sheffield Technical School of Art. In 1908, he gained a scholarship, which enabled him to continue his studies at the art school. His earliest inspiration was his tutor, Oliver Senior, Painting Master at the art school, of whom he had a very high opinion, and who exhibited at the Royal Academy.
His first employment was as an illustrator and designer for local newspapers. In 1911 he began exhibiting professionally in the UK and in 1912 the family moved to a house in Shiregreen, another rural suburb of Sheffield. His first major success was to have three paintings accepted by the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition in 1913.
As a young man he was a keen ice skater; on one visit to the ice rink he met Lily Goulding and subsequently, in 1914 they married, living initially with his parents in Shiregreen. In 1913 he had painted Spring Morning Amongst the Bluebells which depicts his young wife-to-be standing amongst the bluebells and birch trees of Woolley Woods in Sheffield which were local to his home. He painted other versions of this subject, in which there is no figure, but this one, which was accepted by the Royal Academy in 1914 was and remains the main example of this genre. Their daughter, Jean Royle, was born in 1915 at Ridgeway, near Sheffield. She inherited this painting and it remained in her possession until 1992 when she sold it at auction.
Stanley Royle suffered from Bright's disease and this prevented him from joining the forces in the First World War. In the same year that his daughter was born, his oil painting "Ploughing (A Fresh Morning: View of Mosborough from Renishaw)" was accepted by the Royal Academy.
In 1916, the family moved to Priest Hill Farm on Quiet Lane in the Mayfield Valley, outside Sheffield on the edge of the Derbyshire moors. Stanley Royle was successful in having two major works accepted by the Royal Academy that year. His election to associate member of the Royal Society of British Artists in 1918 indicated his increasing importance as a landscape painter.
By 1920, he had been elected a full member of the RSBA (Royal Society of British Artists) and was teaching part-time at the Sheffield School of Art. The family spent their summer holiday at Ravenglass in Cumbria which Jean, then five years old, always remembered with great delight.
In 1921, after having been married for 7 years, he was inspired to paint Morning on the Derbyshire Moors. In this oil painting he captures the remoteness of the moorland landscape by using the figure of his wife in the foreground to contrast against the wild and open spaces of the moors. His technique is impressionistic with almost a pointillist effect combined with broad sweeps of colour. The dress and bonnet Lily is wearing were made for her by her sister Frances who was an excellent seamstress. Mike Tooby, Professor of Art and Design at Bath School of Art and Design writes eloquently and with insight about this painting . His article is available to read on the official Stanley Royle website:http://www.stanleyroyle.com/morning-on-the-derbyshire-moors-an-appraisal-by-mike-tooby/
Although Stanley Royle often used female figures within his compositions these were usually secondary to the landscape, which formed his chief interest. However, the three paintings Spring Morning Amongst the Bluebells, 'The Lilac Sun Bonnet' and The Goose Girl' all show single female figures prominently displayed in the foreground, whilst in later works figures give way in importance to the landscape.
In 1922, he received a prestigious commission from Frederick Horner, a local art dealer, to paint four large views in oils of Sheffield. This quartet of paintings forms a significant part of the collection of Stanley Royle's work in Museums Sheffield. In 2005 one of this group, 'Sheffield from Wincobank Wood' was included in the Tate Modern's exhibition 'A Picture of Britain'.
Living in an outlying rural district with limited public transport did not prevent Stanley Royle from undertaking large, ambitious canvasses of significant landscapes, as shown by his study 'Burbage Valley' Museums Sheffield. Sometimes he would walk, but often cycle, to his chosen viewpoint, with all his painting equipment and canvas strapped to the side of his bike! Whilst painting 'Burbage Valley' he hid the canvas in a cave in order not to damage the wet paint by transporting it home. The subject of the much acclaimed oil painting 'The Goose Girl' now in the National Gallery of Ireland was his wife Lily. Her health was sometimes poor which prevented her from posing. On these occasions her younger sister Frances took her place, which is why this figure differs subtly from that of the figure in 'Spring Morning amongst the Bluebells'. The setting is almost certainly Whitely Woods as by then the family lived close by. It was painted in the early 1920s and was exhibited in both Glasgow and Liverpool in 1924. This work had been attributed to the artist William Leech, until Jean Royle sold her aforementioned painting 'Spring Morning Amongst the Bluebells' in 1992. Not until then was it recognised that the same artist must have produced both paintings. In 1925, after resigning from the RSBA, Stanley Royle was elected an associate member of The Royal West of England Academy. His success as a painter made it possible for the family to move to a newly built house at Park Head Crescent in Ecclesall and by 1930 he co-founded of the Sheffield Print Club.

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