Clarkson Frederick Stanfield RA RBA (1793–1867) was a prominent English painter who was best known for his large-scale paintings of dramatic marine subjects and landscapes. Born in Sunderland, a stone's throw from both the town's theatre and its seafront, his father, James Stanfield, was an Irish-born actor and former seaman. His mother, Mary Hoad, was an artist and actress, who died in 1801. James Clarkson was confirmed a Abolitionist and Clarkson was named after the anti-slavery lobbyist, the Reverend Thomas Clarkson.
In his youth he joined a South Shields collier to become a sailor, serving in the Royal Navy from 1808 until he was discharged on health grounds in 1814. Using his spare time to study marine subjects and develop his skills as a draughtsman, in 1815 he made a voyage to China on the East Indiaman Warley and returned with many sketches.
In 1816 Stanfield was engaged as a decorator and scene-painter at the Royalty Theatre in Wellclose Square, London. Along with David Roberts he was afterwards employed at the Coburg theatre, Lambeth, and in 1823 he became a resident scene-painter at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, where he rose rapidly to fame through the huge quantity of spectacular scenery and dioramas that he produced for that house until 1834. Thereafter he abandoned scenery painting, making exceptions only for his personal friends, William Charles Macready and Charles Dickens.
Much of Stanfield's easel and theatrical work was based on extensive domestic and foreign tours. From 1823 onwards he regularly travelled abroad, touring France, Holland, Belgium and the Rhine, Italy, the Pyrenees and Northern Spain. In the 1830s this translated into much work for the illustrated travel publications of the day, including Heath's Picturesque Annuals.
Stanfield first exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1820 and continued, with only a few early interruptions, to his death. He was also a founder member of the Society of British Artists, from 1824, and its president for 1829. In 1832 he was elected Associate Member of the Royal Academy, and became a full Academician in 1835. After a long period of deteriorating health Stanfield died in Hampstead, London, in 1867.
