Ford Maddox Brown was born April 16th 1821, in Calais, France. He was the son of a ship’s purser. Maddox studied art in Antwerp under Baron Waupers. Also at Burges, Paris and Rome. In 1841 he established himself as a history painter and completed “Manfred in the Jungfrau” in Paris. Also worked on “The Execution of Mary Queen of Scots”. In1845 he visited Italy and was bowled over by the richness of colour in Italian masterpieces which led him to increase his own tonal range. He settled in England in 1864 and became a friend of the Pre-Raphaelites but never a member of the brotherhood. Dante Gabriel Rossetti worked in his studio and was initially impressed by his colour work. In 1861 he became a founder member with William Morris, Marshall, Faulkner and Company which was later to become Morris and Company. He produced several furniture and stained glass designs for the company and painted his other major mature painting “Christ Washing Peter’s Feet”. His first marriage was to Elisabeth Bromley on the 3rd April 1841 at the Parish Church in Meopham, he later married Emma Hill on 5th April 1853 at St. Dunstan in the West, Fleet Street, London. Maddox Brown died on October 6th 1893 in London, England at the age of 71. He is buried at St. Pancras Cemetery, London, next to his second wife Emma and two children.