Herman Gustave Herkomer (1863-1935)

In this portrait Herman Herkomer has painted his first cousin Hubert Herkomer in the gown he wore as Slade Professor of Fine Art at the University of Oxford, a position he gained in 1885 and held until 1894.

Herman Herkomer was born in Cleveland, Ohio, studying in New York and Munich. In 1881 he joined his cousin in Bushey, Hertfordshire, the elder cousin providing painting lessons to his younger relation, possibly by making copies of his own works: In March 1882 Herman wrote to his father that he had been asked to make 'a drawing (large) of Hubert's Missing. It is to go in the Graphic.' (the watercolour copy and the related letter are at Yale Center for British Art, New Haven). Later in 1882 the cousins made a portrait-painting tour of the United States. On his return to England Herman studied in Munich and Paris, exhibiting at the Paris Salons and the Royal Academy, London. He earned a solid reputation as a portrait painter, and he remained in England until 1915 when he travelled to San Francisco to receive a silver medal at the Panama-Pacific International Exposition. He remained in California for the rest of his life, and his works can be found in public institutions on both sides of the Atlantic.