__NOTOC__ Henry Woods (22 April 1846 – 27 October 1921) was a British painter and illustrator, and one of the leading Neo-Venetian school artists."Lady Lever Art Gallery"
National Museums, Liverpool. Retrieved 1 February 2021

Early life

Henry Woods was born to a middle-class family at

Warrington Warrington () is a town and unparished area in the borough of the same name in the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England, on the banks of the River Mersey. It is east of Liverpool, and west of Manchester. The population in 2019 was estimat ...

. His father, William, was a pawnbroker and for some time a town councillor; his mother, Fanny, a shopkeeper. He was the eldest of nine siblings.Fildes 1968, p. 4. Woods studied at Warrington School where he received a Department of Science and Art bronze medal, and a scholarship to study at

South Kensington School of Art The Royal College of Art (RCA) is a public research university in London, United Kingdom, with campuses in South Kensington, Battersea and White City. It is the only entirely postgraduate art and design university in the United Kingdom. It off ...

, moving to London in 1865 with his fellow art student

Luke Fildes __NOTOC__ Sir Samuel Luke Fildes (3 October 1843 – 28 February 1927) was a British painter and illustrator born in Liverpool and trained at the South Kensington and Royal Academy Schools. He was the grandson of the political activist Mar ...

: "the two became each other's greatest friend and artistic confidant for life."Luke Fildes, Spartacus Educational
. Retrieved 7 April 2013 In 1869 both Woods and Fildes became illustrators for ''

The Graphic ''The Graphic'' was a British weekly illustrated newspaper, first published on 4 December 1869 by William Luson Thomas's company Illustrated Newspapers Ltd. Thomas's brother Lewis Samuel Thomas was a co-founder. The premature death of the latt ...

'' newspaper, and became associated with artists

John Everett Millais Sir John Everett Millais, 1st Baronet, ( , ; 8 June 1829 – 13 August 1896) was an English painter and illustrator who was one of the founders of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. He was a child prodigy who, aged eleven, became the youngest ...

Hubert von Herkomer Sir Hubert von Herkomer (born as Hubert Herkomer; 26 May 1849 – 31 March 1914) was a Bavarian-born British painter, pioneering film-director, and composer. Though a very successful portrait artist, especially of men, he is mainly remembered fo ...

and

Frank Holl Francis Montague Holl (London 4 July 1845 – 31 July 1888 London) was an English painter, specializing in somewhat sentimental paintings with a moment from a narrative situation, often drawing on the trends of social realism and the prob ...

. The same year Woods began exhibiting at Royal Academy exhibitions – his style influenced by Carl van Haanen and

Eugene de Blaas Eugene de Blaas, also known as Eugene von Blaas or Eugenio Blaas (24 July 1843 – 10 February 1931), was an Italian painter in the school known as Academic art, Academic Classicism. Life and career He was born at Albano Laziale, Albano, ...

– and continued to do so until his death.Henry Woods (1846 - 1921)

Rehs Galleries, Inc. Rehs Galleries is an art gallery on 57th Street, Manhattan, New York City. It displays works by 19th century European Barbizon, Realist, Naturalist and Academic works of art with some Impressionism and Post-Impressionism. Mid-20th-century Amer ...

Retrieved 7 April 2013 By 1871 Woods and Luke Fildes were lodging together in Finsbury, London, and later at 22 King Henry's Road, Haverstock Hill, where each had a studio. Both were part of an outdoor landscape sketching circle that included Marcus Stone and Charles Edward Perugini. In 1874 Woods became brother-in-law to Fildes through the marriage of Fildes to his sister, Fanny, also an artist.

Venice

Woods first visit to Venice was in 1876, and, despite a few trips back to England, he stayed and worked there from 1878 to the end of his life, portraying everyday life of Venetian people. He became friends with the artist colony of Ludwig Passini, August von Pettenkofen,

Cecil van Haanen __NOTOC__ Cecil van Haanen (3 November 1844 – 24 September 1914) was a Vienna-born Dutch portrait and genre painter, whose significant work was centred at Venice. Van Haanen was the son to landscape painter Remigius Adrianus Haanen (1812� ...

, Eugene de Blaas, Roussoff, Ruben, and Thoren. He met Whistler in 1879–80, introducing him to Roussoff, and befriended Sargent.The Correspondence of James McNeil Whistler

University of Glasgow , image = UofG Coat of Arms.png , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms Flag , latin_name = Universitas Glasguensis , motto = la, Via, Veritas, Vita , ...

. Retrieved 7 April 2013 In the summer of 1880 he visited England and took up a commission in the Artists' Rifles – he had been a volunteer for some years – practicing maneuvers on

Wimbledon Common Wimbledon Common is a large open space in Wimbledon, southwest London. There are three named areas: Wimbledon Common, Putney Heath, and Putney Lower Common, which together are managed under the name Wimbledon and Putney Commons totalling 4 ...

, and posting guard at Royal Academy banquets. It was his 1881 Venice paintings ''At the foot of the Rialto'' and ''The Gondolier's Courtship'' that aided his associate membership of the Royal Academy in 1882; in 1893 he became a full member alongside Henry Moore and John MacWhirter. Before 1882 he had a studio on the Casa Raffaelli, after which he took a larger studio overlooking the Grand Canal, near the church of San Maurizio, while working at the village of Serra Valle during "the full heat of the Venetian summer." One of the visitors to his studio was

Empress Frederick Victoria, Princess Royal (Victoria Adelaide Mary Louisa; 21 November 1840 – 5 August 1901) was German Empress and Queen of Prussia as the wife of German Emperor Frederick III. She was the eldest child of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdo ...

, who discussed his Serra Valle paintings favourably. During 1890–92 Woods wrote letters from Venice for publication in '' The Daily Graphic''. In 1889 a work submitted to the Paris Exposition Universelle won a bronze medal. Woods was also a member of

The Arts Club The Arts Club is a London private members' club founded in 1863 by, among others, Charles Dickens, Anthony Trollope, and Lord Leighton in Dover Street, Mayfair. It remains a meeting place for men and women involved in the creative arts either ...

, and an honorary member of the Accademia di Bella Arte.

Death

Apart from two-and-a-half years prior to 1919, and occasional visits to England to exhibit at the Royal Academy, Woods remained in Venice until the end of his life, latterly at the Calcina Hotel near the Zattere. On 27 October 1921, in the morning, Woods was painting at the Ducal Palace and returned by gondola to the Calcina for lunch. The gondolier returned later and found Woods dead beside his easel. A memorial service was held at San Vio, the English Church, after which he was buried in the Protestant cemetery.Fildes 1968, p. 220-221.

Collections

The works of Henry Woods are held in private and public collections, including those at the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, the

Government Art Collection The Government Art Collection (GAC) is the collection of artworks owned by the UK government and administered by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS). The GAC's artworks are used to decorate major government buildings in t ...

, London, New York Public Library, the Royal Collection, the Royal Academy of Art,

Tate Britain Tate Britain, known from 1897 to 1932 as the National Gallery of British Art and from 1932 to 2000 as the Tate Gallery, is an art museum on Millbank in the City of Westminster in London, England. It is part of the Tate network of galleries in ...

Tyne and Wear Museums Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums (TWAM) is a regional group of United Kingdom national museums and the county archives service located across the Tyne and Wear area of north-east England. They have been administered by a joint board of local author ...

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...

, and the

Walker Art Gallery The Walker Art Gallery is an art gallery in Liverpool, which houses one of the largest art collections in England outside London. It is part of the National Museums Liverpool group. History of the Gallery The Walker Art Gallery's collection ...

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...

Major works

*1872 — ''A Monday Popular Concert''. New York Public Library *1873 — ''Going Home''.

Warrington Museum & Art Gallery Warrington Museum & Art Gallery is on Bold Street in the Cultural Quarter of Warrington in a Grade II listed building that it shares with the town's Central Library. The Museum and the Library originally opened in 1848 as the first rate-sup ...

*1878 — ''A Country Studio''. Private collection *1878 — ''Entrance to the Grand Canal''. Government Art Collection *1879 — ''The convalescent''. Art Gallery of New South Wales *1879 — ''On the Steps of the Rialto'', Venice. Private collection *1879 — ''Scene from Victor Hugo's '93''. Art Gallery of New South Wales *1880 — ''Street dealers in Venice''.

Kunsthalle Hamburg The Hamburger Kunsthalle is the art museum of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg, Germany. It is one of the largest art museums in the country. The museum consists of three connected buildings, dating from 1869 (main building), 1921 (Kuppelsaa ...

*1881 — ''At the foot of the Rialto''. Private collection *1881 — ''The Gondolier's Courtship'' Private collection *1882 — ''A Venetian Fan Seller''. Private collection *1884 — ''A rest on the steps, Venice''. Private collection *1884 — ''Venetian Cloisters''. Private collection *1885 — ''Cupid's Spell''. Tate Gallery *1886 — ''A Venetian Canal''. Private collection *1886 — ''The Water Wheels at Savassa, Italy''. New Walk Museum, Leicester *1887 — ''Portia''. Tyne and Wear Museums *1890 — ''A Canal in Venice''. Private collection *1890 — ''La Promessa Sposa''. Private collection *1891 —
Rivals''
Royal Collection *1891 — ''Street in Venetia''.

Brighton Museum & Art Gallery Brighton Museum & Art Gallery is a municipally-owned public museum and art gallery in the city of Brighton and Hove in the South East of England. It is part of the "Royal Pavilion & Museums, Brighton and Hove". It is free for local residents ...

*1892 — ''In the Belfry of the Campanile of St. Mark's, Venice''. Maas Gallery *1892 — ''The church of the Frari and school of San Rocco, Venice''. Private collection *1893 — ''Cloisters, the Church of the Frari, Venice''. Warrington Museum & Art Gallery *1893 — ''First Communion Veil''. Warrington Museum & Art Gallery *1894 — ''In the Piazza''. Private collection *1885 — ''Bartering''. Private collection *1895 — ''Il Campo SS Giovanni e Paolo, Venice''. Royal Academy of Arts *1896 — ''A Courtyard in Venice''. Private collection *1896 — ''A Venetian Christening Party''. Towneley Hall Art Gallery *1896 — ''A Street in the Rhone Valley''. Private collection *1902 — ''Venetian Water Seller''. Warrington Museum & Art Gallery *1903 — ''Fruit sellers from the islands, Venice''. Private collection *1905 — ''A Venetian Vintage''. Harris Museum and Art Gallery *1906 — ''A Venetian Beauty''. Private collection *1906 — ''Rosina''. Warrington Museum & Art Gallery *1907 — ''The Admonition''.

National Museums Liverpool National Museums Liverpool, formerly National Museums and Galleries on Merseyside, comprises several museums and art galleries in and around Liverpool, England. All the museums and galleries in the group have free admission. The museum is a non ...

*1912 — ''The Honeymoon''. Private collection *1914 — ''Washing Day''. Private collection *1915 — ''The Interior of St.Peter Martyr, Murano Venice''. Private collection *1916 — ''A Consultation''. Private collection *1919 — ''Laundry Girls in Venice''. Private collection

Sources

* Fildes, Luke, Val: ''Luke Fildes R.A.: A Victorian Painter''; Michael Joseph, London (1968)

References

External links

*
Profile on Royal Academy of Arts Collections
{{DEFAULTSORT:Woods, Henry 1846 births 1921 deaths People from Warrington 19th-century English painters English male painters 20th-century English painters Artists' Rifles officers British genre painters English illustrators Royal Academicians 20th-century English male artists 19th-century English male artists