William Clarke Wontner
William Clarke Wontner was an English portrait artist who lived from 1857 to 1930. Wontner was a contemporary of John William Godward, and like Godward, Wontner’s work was done in the Neoclassical tradition that was extremely popular at the time.
Wontner was born in Stockwell, England, to a relatively prosperous family. His father, William Hoff Wontner, was a respected architect, designer, and renderer and was Wontner’s first art teacher. Godward had actually studied architecture under Wontner’s father as well. The two artists formed a life-long friendship and provided artistic support and inspiration for each other. While Godward chose warmer hues to paint his subjects, Wontner opted for cooler colors.
Working off the stylistic tradition of Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema and Frederic Leighton, Wontner painted his subjects in more detailed period style dress upon a simpler background. He successfully merged contemporary fashion with the classical ideals of beauty. Wontner also added Orientalist elements to his work, giving them an exotic flair. Wontner, like many artists of his day, had a wardrobe of exotic clothing and costume pieces that he would use to dress his sitters in. Exotic props from distant cultures were also used. He was a master at painting fabrics. His careful reproduction of marble walls, which were often the background to his subjects, also displays his close attention to detail.
William Clarke Wontner was relatively successful, showing his work at the Royal Academy of Art in London regularly between 1879 and 1898. In 1885, he started teaching at the St. Johns Wood Art School. After the public tastes in art shifted away from the Neoclassical themes, Wontner kept himself as a working artist through his portrait commissions. Wontner continued to work up until his death in 1930 at 73 years of age.
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