Harry Ellis Wooldridge
Overview
He enrolled at the Royal Academy
Royal Academy
The Royal Academy of Arts is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly, London. The Royal Academy of Arts has a unique position in being an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects whose purpose is to promote the creation, enjoyment and...
in 1865, becoming interested in early music at about the same time. He was studio assistant to Sir Edward Burne-Jones
Edward Burne-Jones
Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones, 1st Baronet was a British artist and designer closely associated with the later phase of the Pre-Raphaelite movement, who worked closely with William Morris on a wide range of decorative arts as a founding partner in Morris, Marshall, Faulkner, and Company...
and later worked with Henry Holiday
Henry Holiday
Henry Holiday was an English historical genre and landscape painter, stained glass designer, illustrator and sculptor. He is considered to be a member of the Pre-Raphaelite school of art.-Early years and training:...
, the chief designer for James Powell and Sons
James Powell and Sons
The firm of James Powell and Sons, also known as Whitefriars Glass, were English glassmakers, leadlighters and stained glass window manufacturers...
, stained glass makers. Wooldridge was retained by Powell's and designed stained glass and tile paintings for more than twenty years.
His church commissions included a reredos
Reredos
thumb|300px|right|An altar and reredos from [[St. Josaphat's Roman Catholic Church|St. Josaphat Catholic Church]] in [[Detroit]], [[Michigan]]. This would be called a [[retable]] in many other languages and countries....
for St Martin's Church
St Martin's Church, Brighton
St Martin's Church is an Anglican church in Brighton, England, dating from the mid-Victorian era. It is located on the Lewes Road in the Round Hill area of the city, northeast of the city centre and approximately north of the seafront...
in Brighton
Brighton
Brighton is the major part of the city of Brighton and Hove in East Sussex, England on the south coast of Great Britain...
(described as his chef d'œuvre
Masterpiece
Masterpiece in modern usage refers to a creation that has been given much critical praise, especially one that is considered the greatest work of a person's career or to a work of outstanding creativity, skill or workmanship....
), and the painting of frescoes in St John-at-Hampstead
St John-at-Hampstead
St John-at-Hampstead is a Church of England church dedicated to St John the Evangelist in Church Row, Hampstead, London.-History:...
.
His growing authority on early music led to his 1895 appointment, succeeding John Ruskin
John Ruskin
John Ruskin was the leading English art critic of the Victorian era, also an art patron, draughtsman, watercolourist, a prominent social thinker and philanthropist. He wrote on subjects ranging from geology to architecture, myth to ornithology, literature to education, and botany to political...
as Slade
Slade School of Fine Art
The Slade School of Fine Art is a world-renownedart school in London, United Kingdom, and a department of University College London...
professor of Fine Arts at Oxford
Oxford
The city of Oxford is the county town of Oxfordshire, England. The city, made prominent by its medieval university, has a population of just under 165,000, with 153,900 living within the district boundary. It lies about 50 miles north-west of London. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through...
.