Henry Woods

On the Thames, Henry Woods

It's not too unusual, when studying the art and artists of the world, both now and then, to find some who have become icons of a given nation's art who were, in fact, born elsewhere. Pablo Picasso is a good example, born in Spain, living and working most of his life in France. Vincent van Gogh was Dutch but, like Picasso, mostly associated with French art. The same could be said of El Greco (a Greek painting in Spain), Mary Cassatt, and any number of European painters who fled Europe before and during WW II for the United States where they remained the rest of their lives. The British painter, Henry Woods, was one such artist, born in northwestern England, educated in London, but who lived and worked well over half his life in Venice, Italy, to the point he is often considered a Venetian painter.


A Country Studio, 1878, Henry Woods

Fruit Sellers from the Islands,
Henry Woods

Henry Woods was born in 1856, into a proper, middle-class British family. His father, was a pawnbroker and town councilor; his mother, a shopkeeper. He was the eldest of nine siblings. Woods studied first in his hometown Warrington School, where he received a Department of Science and Art bronze medal in 1865, along with a scholarship to study at South Kensington School of Art in London. Upon graduating in 1869, Woods became an illustrator for The Graphic, a London news-paper, where he became associated with the Pre-Raphaelite artist, John Everett Millais, and the Social Realists, Hubert von Herkomer and Frank Holl. That same year Woods began exhibiting at Royal Academy exhibitions. Woods' On the Thames (top) and his A Country Studio (above), from 1878, were likely painted around this time. The latter gives some idea of the scale upon which Woods painted.

At the Foot of the Rialto, 1879-83, Henry Woods

Courtyard in Venice, 1896, Henry Woods

Woods' first visit to Venice came in 1876 and, except for a few brief trips back to England, he stayed and worked there 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, van Haanen, Eugene de Blaas, Wolkoff, Ruben, and Thoren. He met James McNeill Whistler, and befriended by John Singer Sargent. It was his 1881 Venice paintings At the Foot of the Rialto (above) that aided him in gaining an associate membership in the Royal Academy in 1882; followed by full membership in 1893. At some point in time, Woods painted a second version of At the Foot of the Rialto (below). The Rialto, of course, refers to the famed bridge across Venice's Grand Canal. There's no indication I can ascertain as to which painting came first. It's interesting to compare the similarities and differences in the two.

At the Foot of the Rialto, ca. 1881, Henry Woods. I rather like this version best.

Henry Woods, late in life.

Woods is one of the few artists ever to work in, or visit, Venice who didn't spend most of his time and effort painting the canals. Although we see occasional glimpses of the city's famed waterways, Woods spent most of his time portraying the simple, everyday life of Venetian people. We see that in his Rialto paintings but also in works such as The Fan Seller (below) from 1882, painted a few years after he took up permanent residence in the city. Before 1882 Woods had a studio on the Casa Raffaelli, before taking a larger studio overlooking the Grand Canal, near the church of San Maurizio. During the summer, Woods worked in the village of Serra Valle. Henry Woods died in Venice, at his easel, on October 27, 1921, at the age of seventy-five.

A Venetian Fan Seller, 1882, Henry Woods

Figures by the Water's Edge, Henry Woods



La Promessa Sposa, 1890, Henry Woods