Walter Horatio Pater 

Walter Horatio Pater was born on August 4th, 1839 near Stepney, London, the son of Richard Glode Pater and Maria Pater. His father, a surgeon, died in 1842, and the family moved to Enfield. In 1853, Walter began his attendance at King's School. After Walter's mother died in 1854, he attended Queen's College, Oxford in 1858 on scholarship. While there, he let go of his religious faith, graduating in 1862 with a second-class degree. When Pater’s aunt died, he moved to London with his sisters Clara and Hester.

"In an age when the lives of artists were full of adventure, his life is almost colourless." (Walter Pater, Sandro Botticelli)

In 1865, Walter was elected Fellow of Brasenose College. His first work, published in 1873, was Studies in the History of the Renaissance. He followed that with what is widely considered to be his best work, Marius the Epicurean (1885). Pater's doctrine "art for art's sake" attracted followers like Oscar Wilde.

Other works include Imaginary Portraits (1887), Appreciations (1889), Plato and Platonism (1893), and The Child in the House (1894). Greek Studies (1895) and Gaston de Latour (1896) were published posthumously.

Pater lived in Oxford until his death on July 30th, 1894.

Suggested sites for Walter Horatio Pater: