(1805 - 1878)
English painter and sculptor Frederick Tatham was born in London; the son of architect Charles Heathcote Tatham (1772-1842). He exhibited between 1825 and 1854, mainly at the Royal Academy, but also at the British Institution and the Society of British Artists. As a young man he befriended William Blake and became a member of the loose brotherhood of Blake followers called ‘The Ancients’. In 1826 Tatham pooled his resources with Samuel Palmer, allowing both artists to settle in the Shoreham, Kent. They initially lodged with farmer Arthur Tooth but later bought an old cottage. Here, other ‘Ancients’ (and once Blake himself) paid visits. About six months after Blake’s death in 1827, his wife Catherine became Tatham’s live-in housekeeper.
