thumb|william powell frith  thumb|the signal, 1858 thumb|detail of after the bath, frith's only known nude painting william powell frith (19 january 1819 &ndash; 9 november 1909) was an english painter specialising in genre subjects and panoramic narrative works of life in the victorian era. he was elected to the royal academy in 1853, presenting the sleeping model as his diploma work.royal academy of arts collections - artist of the month - may 2009, william powell frith ra he has been described as the "greatest british painter of the social scene since hogarth".william powell frith: painting the victorian age. harrogate borough council, 2011. retrieved 19 april 2013. ==life and career==  born in aldfield, north yorkshire, frith was encouraged to take up art by his father, a hotelier in harrogate. he moved to london in 1835 where he began his formal art studies at sassâs academy in charlotte street, before attending the royal academy schools. frith started his career as a portrait painter and first exhibited at the british institution in 1838. in the 1840s he often based works on the literary output of writers such as charles dickens, whose portrait he painted, and laurence sterne. he was a member of the clique, which also included richard dadd. the principal influence on his work was the hugely popular domestic subjects painted by sir david wilkie. wilkie's famous painting the chelsea pensioners was a spur to the creation of frith's own most famous compositions. following the precedent of wilkie, but also imitating the work of his friend dickens, frith created complex multi-figure compositions depicting the full range of the victorian class system, meeting and interacting in public places. in ramsgate sands, life at the seaside (1854) he depicted visitors and entertainers at the seaside resort. he followed this with the derby day, depicting scenes among the crowd at the 
1819_births 1909_deaths 19th-century_English_painters 20th-century_English_painters English_portrait_painters People_from_Harrogate Royal_Academicians