Richard Caton Woodville (30 April 1825 – 13 August 1855) was an American artist from

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

who spent his professional career in Europe, after studying in

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf ( , , ; often in English sources; Low Franconian and Ripuarian language, Ripuarian: ''Düsseldörp'' ; archaic nl, Dusseldorp ) is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second- ...

under the direction of

Karl Ferdinand Sohn Karl Ferdinand Sohn (10 December 1805 in Berlin – 25 November 1867 in Cologne) was a German painter of the Düsseldorf school of painting. Biography He was born in Berlin and started his studies at the age of eighteen under Wilhelm von Scha ...

. He died of an overdose of

morphine Morphine is a strong opiate that is found naturally in opium, a dark brown resin in poppies (''Papaver somniferum''). It is mainly used as a pain medication, and is also commonly used recreationally, or to make other illicit opioids. T ...

in London at the age of 30. He was the father of

Richard Caton Woodville Jr. Richard Caton Woodville Jr. (7 January 1856 – 17 August 1927) was an English artist and illustrator, who is best known for being one of the most prolific and effective painters of battle scenes in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. B ...

, also a noted artist. In his short career he produced fewer than 20 paintings; but they were well known in their time through exhibition and prints and have remained prominent in the canon of American painters.

Early life and training

Woodville was the eldest son born to a prominent Baltimore family. He displayed early promise in caricatures of his teachers. He attended the University of Maryland Medical School for one year. Woodville would likely have been exposed to the expansive private collection of Baltimore art collector Robert Gilmor Jr.Elizabeth Johns and Paul Usherwood
"Woodville."
''Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online.'' 17 Jul. 2011 In 1845 Woodville exhibited and sold his first painting, ''Two Figures at a Stove'', in the annual exhibition at the National Academy of Design in New York. At the age of 20, he left Baltimore with his new wife, Mary Theresa Buckler, for the

Kunstakademie Düsseldorf The Kunstakademie Düsseldorf is the academy of fine arts of the state of North Rhine Westphalia at the city of Düsseldorf, Germany. Notable artists who studied or taught at the academy include Joseph Beuys, Gerhard Richter, Magdalena Jetelová ...

, Germany, where he was formally enrolled for one year. He remained in

for the next six years (1845–1851) studying with instructor and portrait painter

. The Düsseldorf Academy was a popular place of training for American artists in the mid-19th century, known as the

Düsseldorf school of painting The Düsseldorf school of painting is a term referring to a group of painters who taught or studied at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf Academy (now the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, Staatliche Kunstakademie Düsseldorf or Düsseldorf State ...

. Well-known American painters who spent time in Düsseldorf at the same time as Woodville include,

Emanuel Leutze Emanuel Gottlieb Leutze (May 24, 1816July 18, 1868) was a German-American history painter best known for his 1851 painting '' Washington Crossing the Delaware''. He is associated with the Düsseldorf school of painting. Biography Leutze was born ...

Worthington Whittredge Thomas Worthington Whittredge (May 22, 1820 – February 25, 1910) was an American artist of the Hudson River School. Whittredge was a highly regarded artist of his time, and was friends with several leading Hudson River School artists includin ...

John Whetton Ehninger John Whetten Ehninger (July 22, 1827 New York City - January 22, 1889 Saratoga, New York) was a United States painter and etcher. Biography He graduated from Columbia University in 1847. He was a pupil of Couture in Paris 1848–1849, and after ...

, and

Eastman Johnson Jonathan Eastman Johnson (July 29, 1824 – April 5, 1906) was an American painter and co-founder of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City, with his name inscribed at its entrance. He was best known for his genre paintings, paintings of ...

. Under Sohn's guidance, Woodville developed a technique that was praised for its attention to detail and color. From

, Woodville sent paintings back to the United States to be exhibited primarily at the American Art-Union.

Major works

Best known for detailed depictions of contemporary interior scenes, Woodville chose subject matter that was often ambiguous. In 1846, he sent
The Card Players
' back to the United States to be exhibited. ''The Card Players'' was a great success for the artist. ''Politics in an Oyster House'' was commissioned in 1848 by Baltimore patron John H. B. Latrobe. Like other Woodville paintings, it was reproduced as a popular print. Widely acclaimed by American critics, this painting deals with the "low life" environment of oyster cellars and marginal characters that frequented them. Woodville's great attention to detail is very apparent in this painting. In one of his most popular paintings
Old ’76 and Young ’48
(1849), Woodville provides a glimpse into a tension-filled scene of generational differences between the old Revolutionary war veteran and the young wounded soldier home from the Mexican War. The interesting aspect of this painting is how Woodville continues to show the differences in these two generations through the objects located throughout this interior scene.

Patronage

Woodville's success as an artist had a lot to do with his relationship with the

American Art-Union The American Art-Union (1839–1851) was a subscription-based organization whose goal was to enlighten and educate an American public to a national art, while providing a support system for the viewing and sales of art “executed by artists in th ...

. This subscription-based organization, which published the monthly ''Bulletin of the American Art-Union'', held popular exhibitions in New York each year. The journal frequently praised Woodville's paintings, and his work was purchased and distributed to Art-Union patrons.

Later years

Woodville left

in 1851 to spend time in Paris and London. The American Art-Union came under scrutiny for their lottery fundraising system and was eventually shut down and Woodville lost his American outlet. In 1855, Woodville died of a morphine overdose in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

. He left behind his second wife, Antoinette Marie Schnitzler and their two children, including artist

who became a famous British battle scene painter. Woodville also fathered two children in his first marriage. Woodville left sixteen finished paintings, but no personal letters or journals. The

base
Walters Art Museum holds a number of Woodville paintings
in its permanent collection, including ''Politics in an Oyster House'', ''Old '76 and Young '48'' and ''The Sailor's Wedding''. A Woodville retrospective exhibition, showcasing the entirety of the artist's career, is being organized by the Walters for exhibition in 2013.

Selected works by the artist

File:Richard Caton Woodville - Self-Portrait - Walters 372645.jpg, Self-Portrait (19th Century), Collection of

Walters Art Museum The Walters Art Museum, located in Mount Vernon-Belvedere, Baltimore, Maryland, United States, is a public art museum founded and opened in 1934. It holds collections established during the mid-19th century. The museum's collection was amassed ...

. File:Woodville The Card Players.jpg, ''The Card Players'' (1846), Collection of

Detroit Institute of Arts The Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA), located in Midtown Detroit, Michigan, has one of the largest and most significant art collections in the United States. With over 100 galleries, it covers with a major renovation and expansion project comple ...

File:Richard Caton Woodville - Politics in an Oyster House - Walters 371994.jpg, ''Politics in an Oyster House'' (1848), Collection of

. File:War News from Mexico.jpg, ''War News from Mexico'' (1848), Collection of

Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art is a museum of American art in Bentonville, Arkansas. The museum, founded by Alice Walton and designed by Moshe Safdie, officially opened on 11 November 2011. It offers free public admission. Overview ...

. File:Old 76 and Young 48.jpg, ''Old '76 and Young '48'' (1849), Collection of

. File:Richard Caton Woodville - The Sailor's Wedding - Walters 37142.jpg, ''The Sailor's Wedding'' (1852), Collection of

. File:Woodville Portrait of a Woman.jpg, ''Portrait of a Woman'' (c. 1853), Collection of

References

External links

* ''Bulletin of the American Art-Union'' 1848–53 at JSTO

* ''New-York Tribune'', January 22, 1867, Page 2 (see "Fine Arts") at Library of Congres

* * Warning. Some library records, as assembled online at WorldCat – – evidently attribute to the father some book illustration by the son

{{DEFAULTSORT:Woodville, Richard Caton 1825 births 1855 deaths 19th-century American painters American male painters Kunstakademie Düsseldorf alumni Artists from Baltimore Painters from Maryland Drug-related deaths in England American expatriates in Germany American genre painters 19th-century American male artists