EGG

Redgrave began in 1847 a connection with the Government School of Design, as botanical lecturer and teacher, he became head-master in 1848, and art superintendent in 1852. He was inspector-general for art at the Science and Art Department in 1857. The first Keeper of Paintings at South Kensington Museum, he was greatly instrumental in the establishment of this institution. Redgrave received the cross of the Legion of Honour after serving on the executive committee of the British section of the Paris Exhibition of 1855. He was offered, but declined, a knighthood in 1869.Egg was a member of The Clique best known for his modern triptych Past and Present (1858), which depicts the breakup of a middle-class Victorian family. Unlike most other members of The Clique, Egg also admired the Pre-Raphaelites. Egg sought to combine popularity with moral and social activism, in line with the literary work of his friend Charles Dickens with whom he travelled.