Henry John Boddington

A Trout Stream, North Wales

Devonshire

Henry John Boddington (1811 St Marylebone - 11 April 1865 Barnes, London) was a British landscape painter. Born Henry John Williams, he was the second son of painter Edward Williams. After his marriage to Clarissa Eliza Boddington, daughter of John Boddington, in 1832, he took her name to help differentiate his work from his brothers'.

Displaying a precocious talent for painting, he received formal training from his father and soon developed his own style, characterised by his remarkable ability to depict the foliage of backlit trees. Jan Reynolds observes in her book "The Williams Family of Painters" that one of his ".... most characteristic effects is the appearance of a warm day, with the sun just out of the picture, giving a filmy, hazy atmosphere to the landscape, with deep blue shadows adding greater value to the opposing tone of yellow. The distant mountains are melting in vapory sunlight. The artist is a master of this effect..."

Like many Victorian painters, he worked on a grand scale. The Fine Arts Quarterly Review (Vol. 3, 1865) noted that he "painted pictures not only large, but sometimes grand. His landscapes of mountains, lake and river had scenic breadth and power..."

He was made a member of the elite Royal Society of British Artists in 1842.

Family

Henry John Williams and Clarissa Eliza Boddington-Williams had one child:

1. Edwin Henry Williams, b. 14 October 1836, Islington, London, d. 1905.

See also

• Edward Williams
• Edward Charles Williams
• George Augustus Williams
• Arthur Gilbert
• Sidney Richard Percy
• Alfred Walter Williams

External links

• Rehs Galleries' exhibit titled The English Countryside featuring a biography on H.J. Boddington and images of his work