Richard Ford (1796–1858) was an English travel writer known for his books on Spain. Born in Chelsea into an upper class family and educated at Oxford, he first moved to Spain in 1830, where he travelled extensively and collected notes and drawings. Upon return to England, he wrote an account of his journeys in A Handbook for Travellers in Spain, first published in 1845, described as one of masterpieces of the travel literature genre. An erudite art collector, he befriended many important art and literature figures of his time. Ford was himself skilled in drawing himself, and made illustrations for his own and his friends' books.
Biography
Ford was born at 129 Sloane Street, Chelsea on 21 April 1796, the elder son of Richard Ford (1758–1806), MP 1789–1791, Chief Magistrate at Bow Street and knighted 1801 and his wife Marianne (1767–1849), daughter of Benjamin Booth, East India Company Director and collector of the landscape paintings of Richard Wilson (1713/4–1782).
Ford was educated at Winchester College, and matriculated at Trinity College, Oxford in 1813, graduating B.A. 1817 and M.A. in 1822. A lifelong Tory, in spite of joining the Whig Brooks's Club, he was a great admirer of the Duke of Wellington. He travelled on the Continent at the close of the Napoleonic Wars visiting France, Germany, Austria and Italy between 1815 and the late 1820s, latterly with his first wife, Harriet Capel, whom he married in 1824. She was an illegitimate daughter of the George Capel-Coningsby, 5th Earl of Essex, who had been a close friend of his father. Ford entered Lincoln's Inn in 1819 and was called to the Bar in 1822, but never practised. His real interest lay in the fine arts where he collected old master prints, particularly those of Parmigianino and Andrea Meldolla (Schiavone). In 1822 and 1824 he and his wife Harriet issued their own etchings after these two masters. Between 1825 and 1832 the Fords has six children, the three youngest dying in infancy. By 1830 Mrs. Ford's health was causing concern and it was decided to visit the warmer climate of Spain. Their stay lasted from October 1830 to October 1833, Seville being their base, except for the summers of 1831 and 1833, which they spent in the Alhambra at Granada where the climate was cooler. There he wrote about the rivalry between Marie Guy-Stéphan and Maria Brambilla, specialist in Donizetti and first dancer of La Scala.
In Seville he bought Spanish paintings and drawings mainly from the British Vice-Consul, Julian Benjamin Williams, who was also a dealer. These, among others, included works by Murillo, Zurbarán and Alonso Cano. Later he bought a Ribalta at Valencia. He was to send paintings to auction at Rainy's Rooms in Regent Street in 1836. Some of these were bought in. In all probability Williams was instrumental in introducing Ford to local artists José Gutiérrez de la Vega (1791–1865) and José Domínguez Bécquer (1805–1841), both of whom Ford patronised. In his correspondence he also mentions José Maria Escacena (1800–1858), later a painter of Moroccan scenes and Antonio Maria Esquivel (1806–57). From late 1832 Ford was also to house and patronise the British artist, John Frederick Lewis (1804/5–1876). When back in England, he befriended the Scottish artist, David Roberts, who was in Spain 1832–1833, but apparently Ford never met him while they were both there.
Ford and his wife made many topographical drawings of Seville and its vicinity and during their wider travels in Spain. These constitute an important record of the Spain of the period as many of the buildings he drew were later to disappear. Ford also kept detailed notebooks of what he observed. His journeys took him through Andalucia, Extremadura, Northwest Spain and several times to Madrid. Late in 1831, together with Harriet Ford, he travelled along the Mediterranean coast to Barcelona and via Eastern Spain to Madrid. Apart from that a large part of the north and southeast of the country remained unvisited. During his stay he bought many Spanish books, particularly of literature, artistic treatises, topography, local histories and of local saints. He continued to procure such items after his return home, notably at the Heber (1834–1836), W. B. Chorley (1846) and Riego (1847) sales, which helped to augment his knowledge of those areas he did not visit. He also relied on friends such as Henry Unwin Addington, the British minister in Madrid 1829–1833 and Pascual de Gayangos, an arabist, to provide him with more recent publications.