Edward Matthew Ward, an English painter, born in London in 1816. In 1834 he entered the royal academy and exhibited his first pictures. In 1836-9 he studied in Rome, where he gained the silver medal from the academy of St. Luke in 1838. He studied fresco painting in Munich. In 1839 he exhibited " Cimabue and Giotto," and in 1843 contributed to the cartoon competition at Westminster hall a heroic composition entitled " Boadicea." His "Dr. Johnson perusing the Manuscript of the Vicar of Wakefield" (1843) was followed by "Goldsmith as a Wandering Musician" and " La Fleur's Departure from Montreuil" (1844), " Dr. Johnson in Lord Chesterfield's AnteRoom" (1845), "The Fall of Clarendon" (1846), and "The South Sea Bubble" (1847). In 1852 he was commissioned to paint eight pictures for the corridor of the house of commons. Of these he painted in oil "General Monk declaring for a Free Parliament," and "William and Mary receiving the Lords and Commons;" but owing to the darkness of the corridor, they have since been reproduced in fresco. "The Landing of Charles II." and "The Acquittal of the Seven Bishops" have been painted in water glass.

Among his other works are " An Interview between Charles II. and Nell Gwynne" (1848), "The Royal Family of France in the Temple " (1851), " The Last Sleep of Argyll" (1854), "Ante-Room at Whitehall during the Dying Moments of Charles II." (1861), " Charlotte Corday " (1863), "The Night of Rizzio's Murder" (1865), "Leicester and Amy Robsart" (1866), "Juliet and the Friar" (1867), " A Royal Marriage " (1868), "Luther's First Study of the Bible" (1869), "Baxter and Jeffreys" (1870), "Anne Boleyn on the Tower Stairs" (1871), "The Eve of St. Bartholomew" (1873), and "Lady Teazle's Spinster Days " (1875). He became an academician in 1855*.