Mulready

Mulready, William, born in 1786, came as a child to London with his father. Through Banks the sculptor he was admitted in 1800 to the Royal Academy schools, and in 1804 he became an exhibitor. His first works were landscapes, but in 1807, after a course of popular book-illustration, scene-painting and so forth, he settled down as an interpreter of every-day English life. Old Caspar was the first of a long series of works extending over half a century, and including Idle Boys, The Fight Interrupted, The Barber's Shop, Train Up a Child, Choosing a Wedding Gown. The National Gallery has four of his works. He worked in the Royal Academy schools to within two days of his death in 1863. The "Mulready envelope," the first envelope devised for the penny post, was designed by him, and introduced in 1840, but soon discontinued.