Basil Bradley, was born in Hampstead, London in 1842. He was the second son of William and Eliza Bradley. William Bradley was a known portrait painter and although he was Manchester born, he relocated to London for the higher class commissions. Basil Bradley’s father moved his young family from London to Manchester in the mid 1840s. Daughters Blanche and Julia were born in London in 1844 and 1845 and Maria, the youngest of Basil Bradley’s siblings, was born in Manchester in 1850.
As a boy, Basil Bradley received little formal training in art until 1859 where he enrolled at Manchester School of Art. In 1861, aged 18, he moved to Beathwaite House in Levens where he was assistant to architect and artist Charles Henry Mitchell. Following his time in Levens, he moved to Surrey with his sister Julia, who also a studying artist. Basil Bradley grew into an established artist, specialising in watercolour and depicting naturalistic landscapes including animals, mostly dogs, and occasionally groups of figures. In 1867, he was elected an Associate of the Society of Painters in Water Colours. His exhibits were well acknowledged by the press and public. Basil Bradley’s Victor and Vanquished was the first of his paintings to be exhibited in the Royal Academy of Arts in 1873. In 1874 he married Fanny Jemima Pattison. Basil Bradley became increasingly successful with many more of his works being hung in prestigious galleries including the Society of Painters in Water Colours and the Royal Society of British Artists, and in 1881 he was made Member of the Society of Painters in Water Colours. It was recorded that he most often executed his paintings using ‘Cambridge colours’ supplied from Madderton & Co. Ltd. Basil Bradley died on 30 October in 1904, aged 62.
