George Maton painted Marlborough and locations around for periods during the reign of Queen Victoria. His works were representative. In many respects his catalogue could almost be regarded as a photographic history of the area at a time before photography took hold.
He was an enigma. By trade – we believe – a sign writer. And accomplished (and fast). There were anecdotal tales of him writing the number on the doors of a row of houses faster than one could walk past them.
But he had his ‘devils’ and spent the last few decades of his life in Devizes at the Lunatic Asylum, where his murals and other artistic exploits gained him the sobriquet of the ‘lunatic artist of the asylum’. And some of these murals on the walls of the wards remained there for more than half a century.
He lived a chequered life. Incarcerated at the age of seventeen for larceny, then again later in London, firstly in Clerkenwell ‘House of Detention’ and later in Colney Hatch to where he was sent ‘under the Secretary of State’s order’ having had printed and posted up in the streets foul and abusive posters, which insulted the Queen and the ‘Bishop of Canterbury’ [sic]. It is quite possible that in today’s society he would have been regarded as a ‘creative genius’, but in Victorian England, criteria for judgement were very different.
But in between these enforced removals from society he painted. Not just signs and doors, but scenes of Marlborough, Aldbourne and in Savernake. And maybe elsewhere as well. In Marlborough it was The Green, from both East and West and the High Street. Two works of the Town Hall, obviously painted at very different times as one featured the old pre-1867 style of the building, whilst another, painted from almost exactly the same place showed the building in it’s post 1867 design. Maton never dated (nor signed) his works so we can never be sure as to exact dates. Regarding attribution, his style is distinct, as is the content so we be reasonably confident in recognising what is – or isn’t a work by George Maton.
But one of his works is of Court – the central green area at the heart of Marlborough College. We believe that this was painted either in the late 1840s or early 1850s and as such is probably the only depiction of the early days of Marlborough College, which was opened in 1843 as a boarding school for the sons of Clergy. That painting now hangs in the office of the Master of Marlborough College Malaysia.
This section sets out to give as broad and as detailed description of Maton, his life and his work as is possible. Hopefully it will evolve as we find out more about him, and maybe – quite likely – discover more works by him.
At present we know of fifteen works by Maton. There are seven hanging in the Town Hall. The Merchant’s House recently acquired two, there are a further four of Aldbourne, held privately by two owners. Then a painting of the Ailesbury monument in Savernake forest held by the Marquess of Ailesbury and lastly the painting of Court at Marlborough College.
Click below to visit images of all the Maton works we are currently aware of. And click further down to read about George Maton, his life, his exploits what we are aware of to date. This has been compiled with great help from two Marlborough historians – Sue Sykes and Nick Baxter
George Maton – who was he and what do we know about him
How should we regard George Maton?:
How prolific was George Maton? Fifteen works have been identified – to date – but how many more are there? And, of course, where? Maton doesn’t appear to be have had a great output but that may just be because not many of his works have as yet been found, identified and attributed to him. His style is distinctive. He has been described as a ‘Folk Artist’ but ‘naive’ really captures and describes his style. The two terms are related but without entering the world of semantic difference, ‘naive’ style is regarded as relying on the intuition of the artist, little regard for the perspective or formal composition, and characters that are simple representations, and with no shadow. A ‘naive’ artist is likely to have never been formally trained. It is the work, the practice and execution of the paintings that creates the style, and as noted above, largely from the intuition of the artist rather than the tutor providing advice or direction. As far as we can ascertain Maton was a natural ‘self taught’ artist with no training, formal or otherwise.
Maton painted on thin wood board, or all we’ve seen of his works so far use that medium. Oil paint on board, no canvas. This would be consistent with his ‘trade’ as signwriter as those would be the materials he would be using on an everyday basis.
Many great artists are regarded as ‘naive’, such as Gauguin of Klee, but we wouldn’t look to put Maton into any such exalted comparative company. But he has his style, his way of seeing and interpreting what’s around him and for us here in Marlborough he provides a unique insight in to how Marlborough (and Aldbourne) was, its life, it’s characters, a singular perspective into Victorian Marlborough everyday existence.
We would hold that for Marlborough (and the surrounding area?) Maton has great value. What he produced is probably exactly as it was in the mid-nineteenth century. There are no other such artists of this period, and photography was in its infancy, even though Henry Fox Talbot, one of the great early inventors and pioneers of photography was based in nearby Lacock, his family seat.
How should we view Maton? In no respect could he be regarded as a ‘great’ artist. But important, definitely. Maton is our window on to Victorian Marlborough. A consistent, capable and undoubtedly skilled painter, working in the right period (for us) although probably the wrong period (for him) as his character, eccentricities and actions led to his prolonged incarcerations as he was deemed to beyond the (then) boundaries of acceptable society. He would likely now be acclaimed as a flawed but creative artist (genius?), accepted for what he bought to the world but recognised for what he also carried with him. Nowadays that could apply to a significant number of highly regarded artists, and not just from the world of painting and drawing
