Randolph Caldecott RI, ROI (British, 1846-1886)

Randolph Caldecott was an illustrator and watercolourist. He was born in Chester and was the son of an accountant. Caldecott studied at Manchester Art School and at the Slade School of Art. He contributed to Punch, the Graphic and London Society, and exhibited regularly in London, showing at the Royal Academy, Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours, Royal Institute of Oil Painters, Fine Art Society, Grosvenor Gallery and Baillie Gallery, as well as at the Royal Society of Artists in Birmingham, Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts, Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool and Manchester City Art Gallery. He was elected a member of the Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours in 1882 and of the Royal Institute of Oil Painters in 1883. He was also a member of The Arts Club from 1872 to 1885.

References: Houfe, Simon. The Dictionary of 19th century British Book Illustrators and Caricaturists: 85. Johnson, J. and A. Greutzner, Dictionary of British Artists 1880-1940, Woodbridge, 1980; WC. Johnson, J. and A. Greutzner, Dictionary of British Artists 1880-1940, Woodbridge, 1980.