Self Portrait. Image:Bradford Museums & Galleries
John Bradley (1787-1844) was a Keighley artist who taught drawing to the Bronte children and their father, Patrick. .He was born in Keighley and was a house and sign painter, but sketched and painted the post-industrial scene in and around the town. By the 1820s he had become the best known painter in the area.
View of Old Corn Mill Bridge, Damside, Keighley (c.1820). Image: Bradford Museums & Galleries.
He exhibited in local exhibitions, and one of his paintings, the Airedale Heifer of East Riddlesden Hall, (shown below) was reproduced as an engraving and sold widely around Yorkshire.
In 1823 he became one of the four founders of the Keighley Mechanics’ Institute and the architect for the building. The Mechanics Institute played an important role in art education in the town and was a precursor of the Keighley School of Art.
Between 1829 -30, John Bradley was a drawing teacher for Patrick Bronte and the Bronte children and encouraged them all in their pursuit of art. They attended his studio in Keighley, and William Dearden, a Keighley school master, recalled meeting Patrick, Charlotte and Branwell Bronte ‘many times’ in Bradley’s studio, ‘where they hung in close-gazing inspection and silent admiration over some fresh production of the artist’s genius.’
It is likely that Bradley also visited Haworth Parsonage to give tuition to the Bronte family and there is a record of Charlotte giving him a copy of a Bewick print, ‘The Mountain Sparrow’, she had drawn.
In 1831 John Bradley and his family emigrated briefly to Philadelphia, USA, for reasons not entirely clear, but it is generally thought he was attracted to the ‘liberty’ values espoused in the New World, as well as wanting to find new outlets for his painting. However, the family found life there hard and the winter of 1831-1832 was particularly severe. He also found it difficult to find commissions, so in 1833 John and his family returned to Keighley.
On his return, he re-joined the Mechanics’ Institute and had an influence on the architecture of a new building the Institute opened in 1834.
He painted a panoramic view of Keighley in 1839, now on display at Cliffe Castle, Keighley, along with other examples of his work.
‘View of Keighley’ (1839). Image: Bradford Museums and Galleries