Mark Fiennes

Mark Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes (11 November 1933 – 30 December 2004) was an English photographer and illustrator. Fiennes was perhaps best known for his architectural studies.

Biography

Mark Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes was born at Dalton, Northumberland, the eldest of five children of industrialist Maurice Fiennes, who was later knighted for his services to the export of British heavy engineering products, and his wife Sylvia Joan (née Finlay). Mark Fiennes's third cousin is Sir Ranulph Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes, 3rd Baronet.

Education

Fiennes was educated at Eton College for several years before he fell ill with glomerulonephritis. In hope of improving his health, his parents sent him to Australia, New Zealand and the United States where Fiennes studied agriculture. With his health restored, he returned to England and became a farming tenant on the estate of the Earl of Stradbroke near Blythburgh, Suffolk, where he met and married novelist Jennifer Lash in 1962 at Lothingland. Her passion for art served as an impetus for Fiennes, who took up photography at the age of 40.

Career

Fiennes' work featured some of the world's most renowned museums as well as Britain's most celebrated estates. In 1985, he received a commission from the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C. to produce images for their exhibit Treasure Houses of Britain. After this, his photography recorded the restoration of Windsor Castle for the Royal Collections.

He was commissioned to illustrate books for a number of British and American publishers, including HarperCollins, Random House, Thames & Hudson and Yale University Press. Between 1983 and 1995, he regularly contributed to Country Life magazine.