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 and his wife Sylvia Joan (née Finlay). The father was later knighted for his services to the export of British heavy engineering products.
[ citing Announcements, The Times, London, U.K., 12 January 1994.] Mark Fiennes's third cousin is
Ranulph Fiennes.
Education
Fiennes was educated at
Eton College for several years before he fell ill with glomerulonephritis, a type of kidney disease. 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.
There he met and married novelist Jennifer Lash in 1962 at Lothingland. Her passion for art inspired Fiennes. He took up photography at the age of 40.
Career
Fiennes' photography 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.
Family
He and
Jennifer Lash (1938–1993) were the parents of actors
Ralph Fiennes and
Joseph Fiennes, filmmakers
Martha Fiennes and
Sophie Fiennes, composer
Magnus Fiennes and conservationist Jacob ("Jake") Fiennes.
They also had a foster son, Michael Emery, an archaeologist.
Jini Fiennes died from breast cancer in 1993, aged 55. Their grandson Hero Fiennes Tiffin is also an actor.
Final years
In 1996, Fiennes married Caroline Evans and lived with her in Clare, Suffolk until his death in 2004, aged 71, from undisclosed causes.
See also
-
Treasure Houses of Britain – 1985 television documentary
Notes
External links
