Yeames, William Frederick

Yeames, William Frederick (b Taganrog, Russia, 18 Dec. 1835; d Teignmouth, Devon, 3 May 1918).
British painter. He was born in Russia, where his father was a British consul, had part of his education in Dresden, and moved to London in 1848. He specialized in scenes from British history, particularly of the Tudor and Stuart periods, treated in an anecdotal and often melodramatic way that looks forward to Hollywood ‘costume’ movies. Most of his work has been forgotten, but one of his pictures has achieved enduring fame as an archetypal image of Victorian sentimentality, the Cromwellian tear-jerker ‘And When Did You Last See Your Father?’ (1878, Walker AG, Liverpool). See also St John's Wood Clique.