Thomas Sword Good (2 December 1789 – 15 April 1872) was a British painter, known for genre works.Dictionary of Scottish Art and Architecture. Peter J. M. McEwan. Antique Collectors Club. 1994.

Life

Good was born at

Berwick-upon-Tweed Berwick-upon-Tweed (), sometimes known as Berwick-on-Tweed or simply Berwick, is a town and civil parish in Northumberland, England, south of the Anglo-Scottish border, and the northernmost town in England. The 2011 United Kingdom census recor ...

, 2 December 1789, and spent most of his life there. He was brought up as a house-painter, but in course of time began to execute portrait. From this he passed to

genre painting Genre painting (or petit genre) is the painting of genre art, which depicts aspects of everyday life by portraying ordinary people engaged in common activities. One common definition of a genre scene is that it shows figures to whom no identity ca ...

, and between 1820 and 1834 exhibited at the principal London exhibitions. He stopped painting in the mid-1830s. He died in his house at 20 Quay Walls of his native town, 15 April 1872. Thomas sword good house 09 0

Little is known of his life, but he visited London and David Wilkie, to whose school of painting his works belong.

Works

To the

Royal Academy The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House in Piccadilly London, England. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its ...

he sent in 1820 'A Scotch Shepherd;' 'in 1821 'Music' and 'A Man with a Hare;' in 1822 (the year in which Wilkie's 'Chelsea Pensioners' was exhibited) 'Two Old Men (still living) who fought at the Battle of Minden,' later in the possession of

Frederick Locker-Lampson Frederick Locker-Lampson (May 29, 1821 – May 30, 1895) was an English man of letters, bibliophile and poet. Overview He was born at Greenwich Hospital. His father, who was Civil Commissioner of the Hospital, was Edward Hawke Locker, young ...

. To the same year belongs 'An Old Northumbrian Piper.' In 1823 he exhibited 'Practice' (probably the barber's apprentice shaving a sheep's head, engraved in mezzotint by W. Morrison); 1824, 'Rummaging an Old Wardrobe;' 1825, 'Girl and Boy' and 'Smugglers Resting;' 1826, 'A Study of Figures;' 1827, 'Fishermen;' 1828, 'Interior, with Figures;' 1829, 'Coast Scene, with Fishermen' and 'Idlers;' 1830, 'The Truant' and 'Merry Cottagers;' 1831, 'Medicine:' 1832, 'Coast Scene, with a Fisherman' (acquired by the

National Gallery The National Gallery is an art museum in Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, in Central London, England. Founded in 1824, it houses a collection of more than 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900. The current di ...

); and 1833, 'The Industrious Mother.' Besides these, he sent forty-three pictures to the

British Institution The British Institution (in full, the British Institution for Promoting the Fine Arts in the United Kingdom; founded 1805, disbanded 1867) was a private 19th-century society in London formed to exhibit the works of living and dead artists; it ...

and two to the

Suffolk Street Gallery The Royal Society of British Artists (RBA) is a British art body established in 1823 as the Society of British Artists, as an alternative to the Royal Academy. History The RBA commenced with twenty-seven members, and took until 1876 to reach fi ...

, making a total of sixty-four works up to 1834. Two works ('No News' and 'Study of a Boy') were bequeathed to the National Gallery in 1874 by the painter's widow, Mary Evans Good, to whom he had been married in 1839. There are also several examples of Good's art in the

Fitzwilliam Museum The Fitzwilliam Museum is the art and antiquities University museum, museum of the University of Cambridge. It is located on Trumpington Street opposite Fitzwilliam Street in central Cambridge. It was founded in 1816 under the will of Richard ...

at Cambridge, and there was a portrait of the artist's friend

Thomas Bewick Thomas Bewick (c. 11 August 1753 – 8 November 1828) was an English wood engraving, wood-engraver and natural history author. Early in his career he took on all kinds of work such as engraving cutlery, making the wood blocks for advertisements, ...

in the Museum of the

Newcastle Natural History Society The Natural History Society of Northumbria (NHSN) is a voluntary organization to promote the study of natural history and protect the wildlife of North East England. Its offices and library are in the Great North Museum: Hancock, whose buildin ...

. Good's works were collected by J. W. Barnes of Durham: oils, water-colours, drawings, and etchings, including a self-portrait of the artist by himself.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Good, Thomas Sword 1789 births 1872 deaths People from Berwick-upon-Tweed 19th-century English painters English male painters 19th-century English male artists