Piers Plowman

BERNARD SLEIGH, RBSA

Piers Plowman

Signed, also signed in the plate and dated 1904, signed in ink l.r. Chiaroscuro woodcut

Image 20.5 by 37.5 cm., 8 by 14 ¾ in. (frame size 43 by 59 cm., 17 by 23 ¼ in.

At the age of 14 Sleigh was apprenticed to a wood engraver. At the same time he attended the Birmingham School of Art under Arthur Gaskin, coming under the influence of the Birmingham Group. He first came to the public eye through his skilful wood engravings illustrating various books. His early paintings and watercolours were heavily influenced by Burne-Jones and his circle. In addition to his paintings, murals and illustrations he also involved in the decorative arts, designing stained glass, metal work and inlayed furniture. He joined the Society of Mural Decorators and Painters in Tempera and was a member of the Royal Birmingham Society of Artists between 1923 and 1928. In 1937 Sleigh retired to Chipping Camden, like his mentor Arthur Gaskin, moving into Old Forge Cottage in Cider Mill Lane. Works by him are in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery and the Russell-Cotes Art Gallery & Museum.

Sleigh’s Piers Plowman was published in The Artist Engraver in 1904.