Henry John Boddington
Encyclopedia
Landscape art
Landscape art is a term that covers the depiction of natural scenery such as mountains, valleys, trees, rivers, and forests, and especially art where the main subject is a wide view, with its elements arranged into a coherent composition. In other works landscape backgrounds for figures can still...
painter
Painting
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...
.
Life and work
Boddington was born Henry John Williams in St Marylebone, LondonLondon
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, the second son of painter Edward Williams
Edward Williams (painter)
Edward Williams was an English landscape painter. He was the son of engraver Edward Williams and Mary Ward, daughter of James & Rachael Ward....
(1782–1855) and his wife Anne (née Hildebrand, 1780–1851). He had five brothers, all of whom became landscape painters. His paternal grandfather, Edward Williams, an engraver, married a sister of James Ward
James Ward (artist)
James Ward , R.A., was a painter, particularly of animals, and an engraver.-Biography:Born in London, and younger brother of William Ward the engraver, James Ward was influenced by many people, but his career is conventionally divided into two periods: until 1803, his single greatest influence was...
R.A., the animal painter, and hence he was related to George Morland
George Morland
George Morland was an English painter of animals and rustic scenes.-Life:Morland was born in London, the 3rd son of Henry Robert Morland , artist, engraver and picture restorer...
R.A., and H B Chalon
Henry Bernard Chalon
-Life:Son of the Dutch émigré and engraver Jan Chalon , Henry studied at the Royal Academy Schools and then started specializing in sporting and animal painting. He was appointed Animal Painter to Frederica, Duchess of York, in 1795, and later to both the Prince Regent and King William IV...
, who married other sisters of James Ward, and to John Jackson
John Jackson (painter)
John Jackson was an English painter.Jackson was born in Lastingham, Yorkshire, and started his career as an apprentice tailor to his father, who opposed the artistic ambitions of his son...
R.A., who married Ward's daughter.
Islington
Islington is a neighbourhood in Greater London, England and forms the central district of the London Borough of Islington. It is a district of Inner London, spanning from Islington High Street to Highbury Fields, encompassing the area around the busy Upper Street...
– 1905), who also became a painter. After a few years of great poverty and struggle, Henry John became a very prosperous artist. He lived first at Pentonville
Pentonville
Pentonville is an area of north-central London in the London Borough of Islington, centred on the Pentonville Road. The area is named after Henry Penton, who developed a number of streets in the 1770s in what was open countryside adjacent to the New Road...
, then moved to Fulham
Fulham
Fulham is an area of southwest London in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, SW6 located south west of Charing Cross. It lies on the left bank of the Thames, between Putney and Chelsea. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London...
, then Hammersmith
Hammersmith
Hammersmith is an urban centre in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in west London, England, in the United Kingdom, approximately five miles west of Charing Cross on the north bank of the River Thames...
, and finally in 1854 to Barnes, then in Surrey
Surrey
Surrey is a county in the South East of England and is one of the Home Counties. The county borders Greater London, Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex, Hampshire and Berkshire. The historic county town is Guildford. Surrey County Council sits at Kingston upon Thames, although this has been part of...
.
His earliest pictures depicted the scenery of Surrey and the banks of the Thames. Work of his was first exhibited 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...
, London in 1837, and from 1839 onwards one or two of his pictures were exhibited there every year until his death and four years after it. He showed even more paintings at the Society of British Artists
Royal Society of British Artists
The Royal Society of British Artists is a British art body established in 1823 as the Society of British Artists, as an alternative to the Royal Academy.-History:...
in Suffolk Street
Royal Society of British Artists
The Royal Society of British Artists is a British art body established in 1823 as the Society of British Artists, as an alternative to the Royal Academy.-History:...
. His name appears for the first time in the catalogue for 1837, and in 1842 became a member of the society (RBA), afterwards exhibiting there an average of ten pictures a year until his death. In 1843 he visited Devon
Devon
Devon is a large county in southwestern England. The county is sometimes referred to as Devonshire, although the term is rarely used inside the county itself as the county has never been officially "shired", it often indicates a traditional or historical context.The county shares borders with...
shire, staying at Ashburton
Ashburton, Devon
Ashburton is a small town on the edge of Dartmoor in Devon, adjacent to the A38 Devon Expressway.It was formerly important as a stannary town , and remains the largest town within the National Park, with a population of around 3,500...
; in 1846 the English Lake District
Lake District
The Lake District, also commonly known as The Lakes or Lakeland, is a mountainous region in North West England. A popular holiday destination, it is famous not only for its lakes and its mountains but also for its associations with the early 19th century poetry and writings of William Wordsworth...
; and in 1847, for the first time, North Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
, which, especially the country around Betws-Y-Coed
Betws-y-Coed
Betws-y-Coed is a village and community in the Conwy valley in Conwy County Borough, Wales. It has a population of 534. The name Betws or Bettws is generally thought to be derived from the Anglo-Saxon Old English 'bed-hus' - i.e. a bead-house - a house of prayer, or oratory...
and Dolgelly, became his favourite working-ground. Boddington also painted in Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
, Yorkshire
Yorkshire
Yorkshire is a historic county of northern England and the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its great size in comparison to other English counties, functions have been increasingly undertaken over time by its subdivisions, which have also been subject to periodic reform...
, and other parts of England, but never travelled to the continent.
The Dictionary of National Biography
Dictionary of National Biography
The Dictionary of National Biography is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published from 1885...
described Boddington as "of a humorous, amiable, and manly character". After suffering for several years from a progressive disease of the brain, he died at his home in Barnes on 11 April 1865.
Art Style
Boddington developed his own style, characterised by a remarkable ability to depict the foliage of backlit trees. Jan Reynolds observed that one of his "most characteristic effects is the appearance of a warm day, with the sun just out of the picture, giving a filmy, hazy atmosphere to the landscape, with deep blue shadows adding greater value to the opposing tone of yellow. The distant mountains are melting in vapory sunlight. The artist is a master of this effect..." Like many Victorian painters, he worked on a grand scale. The Fine Arts Quarterly Review (Vol. 3, 1865) noted that he "painted pictures not only large, but sometimes grand. His landscapes of mountains, lake and river had scenic breadth and power..."His paintings mostly depict peaceful English country scenes. He was a very rapid sketcher.
See also
- Edward WilliamsEdward Williams (painter)Edward Williams was an English landscape painter. He was the son of engraver Edward Williams and Mary Ward, daughter of James & Rachael Ward....
(father) - Edward Charles WilliamsEdward Charles WilliamsEdward Charles Williams was an English landscape painter.He was the eldest son of Edward Williams and Ann Hildebrandt . He was taught painting by his father, adopting much of his style and technique...
(brother) - George Augustus WilliamsGeorge Augustus Williams-Life and work:Williams was born in St Marylebone, London, the third son of painter Edward Williams and Ann Hildebrandt.George Augustus painted riverscapes of the Thames, moonlit landscapes, seascapes and views of Kent, Wales and elsewhere...
(brother) - Arthur GilbertArthur GilbertArthur Gilbert , born Arthur Gilbert Frederick Williams, was a British painter from the Victorian era.-Biography:...
(brother) - Sidney Richard PercySidney Richard PercySidney Richard Percy , born Sidney Richard Percy Williams, was an English landscape painter.-Biography:...
(brother) - Alfred Walter WilliamsAlfred Walter WilliamsAlfred Walter Williams was a Victorian landscape painter.Alfred was born in Southwark, London, one of identical twins born to the painter Edward Williams and Ann Hildebrandt; the second twin, Charles dying shortly after...
(brother)
External links
- H J Boddington online (ArtCyclopedia)
- Paintings by H J Boddington (Art Renewal Center Museum)
- The English Countryside - includes biography and works of H.J. Boddington (Rehs Galleries, Inc.)
- A weedy branch of the Thames (Oil on canvas - Sotheby'sSotheby'sSotheby's is the world's fourth oldest auction house in continuous operation.-History:The oldest auction house in operation is the Stockholms Auktionsverk founded in 1674, the second oldest is Göteborgs Auktionsverk founded in 1681 and third oldest being founded in 1731, all Swedish...
)