William Clarke Wontner (17 January 1857 – 23 September 1930) was an English portrait painter steeped in Academic Classicism and Romanticism.
William Clarke Wontner | |
|---|---|
| Born | 17 January 1857 |
| Died | 23 September 1930 Worcester, England |
| Resting place | Ripple, Worcestershire |
| Nationality | British |
| Education | William Hoff Wontner (father) |
| Known for | Painter |
| Movement | Orientalist; Neoclassicism; Academic Classicism |
| Spouse | Jessie Marguerite Keene (1872–1950) |
Life and career
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Wontner was born in Stockwell, Surrey, the son of the architect, designer and renderer William Hoff Wontner (1814–1881) and Catherine Smith.[1]
Wontner received his earliest art education from his father. Under his father's direction, he worked with John William Godward (1861–1922), a noted exponent of what became known as Greco-Roman style, who was an acquaintance of the Wontner family.[2] Godward was five years older than Wontner, and the pair became great friends.[3]
In around 1885, Wontner began teaching at the St John's Wood Art School, after he had moved to Hamilton Garden Square.[4] He was a minor painter who was part of the neo-classical movement in England, led by Alma-Tadema. His style favoured seductively languorous women against classical or oriental marbled backdrops.[5]
His faithfully rendered fabrics draped over patently European models somehow created an air of Orientalism. His work was exhibited at the Royal Academy from 1879, and also at the Society of British Artists and at the Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours. When the Grosvenor Gallery closed in 1890, Wontner exhibited at the New Gallery.[6]
Private life
editOn 7 June 1894, at St. Dominic's Priory Church, Naverstock Hill, Hampstead Wontner married Jessie Marguerite Keene (1872–1950),[7] a daughter of Charles Joseph Keene. The couple had no children. Wontner, then of Ripple, Worcestershire, died at the Worcester Infirmary on 23 September 1930[8] and was buried at Ripple three days later.
Work
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A Beauty in Eastern costume, 1916-1925 -
Lady of Baghdad, 1900 -
The Dancing Girl, 1903 -
Amy Robsart, 1900 -
Honeysuckle, 1907 -
Femme fatale, 1882 -
An Egyptian Beauty
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ "William Clarke Wontner". The Peerage. Lundy Consulting Ltd. 5 September 2005. Retrieved 10 June 2009.
- ^ Swanson, V.G., John William Godward: The Eclipse of Classicism, Antique Collector's Club, 1997, p. 23
- ^ "J W Godward Biography". Mezzo-mondo.com. 13 December 1922. Retrieved 10 June 2009.
- ^ Swanson (1997), p. 26
- ^ Thornton, L., Women as Portrayed in Orientalist Painting, ACR edition, 1994. pp 120-121
- ^ Brian Stewart, Mervyn Cutten, The Dictionary of Portrait Painters in Britain up to 1920 (1997), p. 62
- ^ “WONTNER, William Clarke” in General Index to Marriages in England and Wales (1894, 2nd quarter), p. 284
- ^ “WONTNER, William Clarke of Ripple Tewkesbury” in Probate Index for England and Wales, 1930, p. 463
External links
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