George Henry Boughton
George Henry Boughton
English , 1833 – 1905
George Henry Boughton was born near Norwich in Norfolk , England . Boughton ’ s father sought a better future for his family , and when George was just a small child , they sailed for the United States , settling in Albany , New York . Boughton ’ s artistic inkling came at an early age , according to his biographer Alfred Lys Baldry :
He had gone into a store to buy some fishing-tackle , and there caught sight of some paint-tubes . The fascination of these was irresistible , and the money which was to have been spent on fish-hooks was laid out instead upon a selection of colours — a striking proof , indeed , that , boy though he was , the artistic craving was strong enough in him to overpower even his love of sport .
Boughton opened his first studio before he was twenty , and in 1853 , the American Art Union purchased The Wayfarer , which financed a six-month trip to England . He then returned to the United States and showed his work at the National Academy of Design where his painting Winter Twilight was an instant success . With the financial backing from a wealthy New York comrade and the desire to return to Europe , Boughton traveled to Paris in 1860 . There , he studied informally under Edward Harrison May and Pierre Edouard Frère . After two years , and despite having purchased a return ticket to New York , he chose to live in Europe for the rest of his life , opening a studio at 23 Newman Street in London in 1862 .
Although known for a variety of subjects , Boughton ’ s scenes of early American history drew the attention of fellow artist Vincent van Gogh . In a letter to his brother Theo dated July 20 , 1873 , van Gogh specifically references Boughton ’ s painting , Puritain allant à l ’ église , and writes that he has “… seen very beautiful things by
Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema ( Dutch , 1836 – 1912 ), George H . Boughton , ca . 1893 , The Miriam and Ira D . Wallach Division of Art , Prints and Photographs : Print Collection , The New York Public Library
him .” Boughton is also known for numerous illustrations which are published in Nathaniel Hawthorne ’ s The Scarlet Letter and Washington Irving ’ s Rip van Winkle and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow . As a culmination to his long and prestigious career , Boughton became a full Royal Academician in 1896 .
REFERENCES : Bakker , Nienke , Leo Jansen , and Hans Luijten , eds . Vincent Van
Gogh : The Letters . London : Thames & Hudson , 2010 . Baldry , Alfred Lys . George H . Boughton ( Royal Academician ) His
Life and Work . London : Virtue & Co ., 1904 . Dearinger , David Bernard . ed . Paintings and Sculpture in the Collection of the National Academy of Design . Volume 1 , 1826 – 1925 . New York : Hudson Hills Press , 2004 .
56 THE TILE CLUB : Camaraderie and American Plein-Air Painting