Tristram James Ellis Rumeli Fortress, Istanbul, Turkey

Tristram James Ellis (1844–1922)

Tristram James Ellis (1844–1922) was born at Great Malvern, the son of the mathematician and philologist Alexander John Ellis. At school he excelled at mathematics and initially he studied Applied Sciences, at King's College, London. He won all the scholarships offered by the college and was awarded the Associateship of King's College after only two years' study, in recognition of his exceptional achievements. He went on to work for the railway engineer Sir John Fowler and became a partner in a firm of engineers.

After several years, however, Ellis decided that his calling lay in art and he left the engineering profession to devote his time to painting. He became a student of Léon Bonnat in Paris, exhibited at the Royal Academy, and embarked on a period of travel. In 1878 he visited Cyprus, then the following year he boarded a steamship for Alexandria. His ambitious journey took him from the Syrian coast, overland to Diyarbakır in southeast Turkey and then by raft down the Tigris to Mosul and Baghdad in Iraq. From Baghdad, he travelled overland to Palmyra and Damascus in Syria and then to Beirut, Lebanon. After his return, he showed about ninety sketches from his travels, which sold immediately. Ellis also wrote a two-volume illustrated account of his trip, 'On a Raft, and Through the Desert', which was published in 1881.

Further trips included visiting Egypt in the spring of 1882, and several years later, travelling to the eastern Mediterranean, where he had three sketches selected by George I of Greece at Athens. Later, he made three visits to the Arctic, including to Spitzbergen, and also returned to the Mediterranean.

Ellis was elected an associate of the Royal Society of Painter Etchers in 1887, and he exhibited frequently in London from 1868 to 1893. His works can be found in the V&A, British Museum and National Portrait Gallery, London.