William Henry James Boot
1848 - 1918
Kirkstall Abbey
Oil on canvas, monogrammed lower right and dated 1876
Image size: 24 x 36 inches (61 x 91.5 cm)
Exhibited Royal Academy, 1878 no. 692
Much like his contemporary, John Atkinson Grimshaw, Boot appears to have been influenced by the Pether family who were renowned painters of nocturnes. He was a book illustrator as well as a renowned oil and watercolour artist, producing engravings for the London Illustrated News and Art Journal. He wrote 'Trees and How to Paint Them' in 1883.
Boot was born in Manchester. He exhibited at the Royal Academy from 1874 to 1884, showing mainly English and Continental landscapes. He is known to have travelled extensively in Germany, France and North Africa.
Boot was a member of the Royal Society of British Artists and of the Arts Club, who listed him as a "painter and writer on Gothic architecture". Boot also painted domestic genre and interior scenes but tended to concentrate on landscapes.
Boot lived and married in London. He is buried with his wife in Hampstead.
The subject of this painting, Kirkstall Abbey in Yorkshire, was a place Boot often visited. Three figures to the right gaze admiringly at the view, with the moonlight reflected on the path they stand on.
THIS PAINTING IS IN THE 'MOONLIGHT IN PAINTINGS AND WATERCOLOURS' EXHIBITION CURRENTLY SHOWING AT DARNLEY FINE ART...
Category
19th Century Romantic Landscape Paintings