John Anthony Puller and the Le Blond Connection

See also

• The Abraham Le Blond Page

Although a talented and prolific Victorian artist who exhibited at the Royal Academy, the Royal Society of British Artists and the British Institution, the name of John Anthony Puller had until recently no importance to the New Baxter Society. Despite working in the same period as George Baxter and his licensees, none of the reference books on the subject made any mention of J A Puller but did cite various other artists as producing either the originals or the inspiration for several of Baxter's and his licensees' work. In May 1997, however, two oil painting by J A Puller appeared at an auction in Leeds and a very important link between J A Puller and Abraham Le Blond became obvious. These two paintings are virtually identical to the prints by Le Blond, as can be seen from the illustrations below.

Waiting at the Ferry
Left:- The print by Abraham Le Blond - LB No 91
Right:- The oil painting by John Anthony Puller

The Bird's Nest
Left:- The print by Abraham Le Blond - LB No 93 - published circa 1862
Right:- The oil painting by John Anthony Puller - possibly the one exhibited in 1857
at the British Institution, and/or 1858 at the Royal Society of British Artists

These two oil paintings caused much excitement within the New Baxter Society and prompted Mr Brian Lawrence, a member of the Society, to undertake some research into J A Puller. This has revealed that several other Le Blond prints are identical to or bear strong resemblances to Puller's paintings. Although Puller rarely dated his works there is little doubt that they pre-date the prints.

The research continues with Brian building up a comprehensive dossier containing not only copies of a number of Puller's painting, but also copies of birth and death certificates. Meanwhile Brian details below some of the information that has been uncovered about John Anthony Puller.

If you have any further information about John Anthony Puller please e-mail Brian on

John Anthony Puller

1799 - 1886

John Anthony Puller was born in Bethnal Green on 22 January 1799, the son of Joshua and Elizabeth Puller. Joshua and Elizabeth Ann (nee Cullen) had been married at Stepney Parish Church in 1791. Their first three children were daughters, Elizabeth, Mary and Harriott (sic) then in 1797 their first son was born. He was baptised John Joshua (the first names of his paternal grandfather and father). Less than two years later their second son, John Anthony, was born. The fact that he was given the same first name as his elder brother could possibly indicate that John Joshua had died in infancy. The family was completed with the arrival of another daughter, Sarah, early in 1801. The family home was at 66 Church Street, Bethnal Green and it was at this address that Joshua, a bookseller by trade, died at the age of 87 in 1844.

Nothing is known of John Anthony's early life in Bethnal Green, nor can it be established whether or not he received any formal training as an artist. However, his natural talent developed at an early stage and in 1821 two landscapes in oils were exhibited at the Royal Academy. The following year he also began exhibiting at the British Institution and in 1825 at the Royal Society of British Artists, Suffolk Street. Over the next 40 years his paintings were regularly displayed at these three galleries almost without a break. Records show that he exhibited a total of 43 works at the Royal Academy, 53 at the British Institution and 82 at the Royal Society of British Artists.

His early exhibited works were landscapes but by the 1830s he appears to have turned increasingly towards genre scenes with intriguing titles like" Young Smokers", "The Burning Glass", "The Blind Fiddler" and "Dancing Dogs". Exhibition catalogues show that in the 1850s and 1860s his works were being offered for sale at prices between 10 and 15 guineas each. His landscapes ranged in size up to 30 ins. by 25 ins. and occasionally even larger, whilst his scenes from everyday life tended to be small, often about 10 ins. by 8 ins. He also produced a number of oval paintings, usually oil on board, approximately 7 ins. by 5 ins. several of which are identical to or bear strong resemblances to Le Blond's prints.

It is difficult to establish which other artists may have influenced Puller as so many seem to have been depicting scenes of everyday life in similar style at that time. However, it has become apparent as I have seen more examples of his work that a number of his compositions resemble the paintings of Thos. Webster (1800 - 1886) in that they both seem to have taken a delight in focusing on children, particularly mischievous ones in school, in the street or the countryside. Coincidentally, Puller and Webster were born and died within a few months of each other and it is interesting to speculate on the possibility of them meeting up on the streets of London from time to time to compare notes and seek inspiration from one another.

Puller spent most of his working life in the East End of London with addresses in Mile End, Shoreditch and Hackney Road. No record of his marriage has been traced but it must have taken place some time before 1841 as he was then living with his wife, Mary, at 18 Gloucester Street, West Haggerston. It seems unlikely that they had any children which may be explained by the fact that Mary Puller was 16 years older than her husband.

In the mid 1860s Mr and Mrs Puller finally left East London and moved south of the Thames to 23 Elm Grove, Brixton Hill where Mary died on 15 February, 1868 at the age of 85. This event seems to have coincided with John Anthony's retirement since his last painting to be exhibited was "Cottage Children" at the Royal Society of British Artists in 1867. By 1881 he was living in lodgings in Clapham and died at the home of his niece at Cardenham Villa, Stanstead Road, Forest Hill on 30 November, 1886, just a few weeks before his 88th birthday. The fact that he did not leave a will suggests that whatever success he may have had as an artist it did not make him a wealthy man.

Brian G Lawrence
July 1998

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