Artist
Robert Rampling
1835
Robert Rampling was the son of a Preston architect,
and was born in 1835 in Liverpool. As a young man,
he arrived in Lancaster to take up a position as Messrs
Seward & Co. Whitesmiths. He was mainly a self-taught
artist who liked to paint water-colours in his
leisure time. Rampling was the first of eleven children
and his father died when Robert was only 18. Robert also
had instruction from the famous Victorian water colourist,
Myles Birkett Foster when practising his technique. In Lancaster
his work was rather popular and he exhibited regularly at
the Storey Institute Art Gallery in 1891, 1894, 1895 and 1908.
He is also said to have had a volatile temper
and a lack of ambition. It is suggested that his early, intuitive
style gave way in later years to rather mechanical production.
Nonetheless, his local scenes are still very much appreciated.