biografía de Richard Caton I WOODVILLE (1825-1857)

Lugar de nacimiento: Baltimore, MD

Lugar de defunción: London, England

Profesión: Genre painter

Estudios: drawing at St. Mary's Coll., Baltimore, 1830s (as a young boy); possibly from Alfred Jacob Miller; Karl F. Sohn in Düsseldorf, 1845-50

Exposiciones: NAD, 1845 (prior to his leaving for Düsseldorf); PAFA, 1847; Brooklyn AA, 1872; Corcoran Gal., 1967

Obra: Corcoran Gal.; Walters AG, Baltimore (includes some of his earliest work); NAD; NMAA

Comentarios: Expatriate genre painter. Woodville briefly attended Univ. of Md. as a medical student (1842-43) and while there produced a group of sketches of his college friends and the inmates of an almshouse. These drawings are highly finished and indicate his skill at an early age. Deciding to dedicate himself to painting, Woodville left for Düsseldorf in 1845 and remained there for five years. During this time, he sent some paintings to America for exhibition, and the American Art-Union reproduced and distributed several of them as engravings. From 1851-on, Woodville lived chiefly in Paris and London. Woodville's most popular genre pictures were those relating to contemporary American life. These include War News From Mexico" (1848, NAD) and "Politics in an Oyster House" (1848, Walters Gallery). Woodville died from an "accidental" overdose of laudanum (morphine). His son, Richard, Jr. (see entry), became a popular illustrator for the Illustrated London News.

Fuentes: G&W; Cowdrey, "Richard Caton Woodville"; Pleasants, 250 Years of Painting in Maryland; Cowdrey, NAD; Cowdrey, AA & AAU; Rutledge, MHS; Rutledge, PA; Antiques (July 1941), 48, repro.; Art Digest (June 1, 1939), 42, repro; More recently, see Francis Grubar, Richard Caton Woodville (exh. cat., Corcoran Gal., 1967); Baigell, Dictionary; 300 Years of American Art, vol. 1, 210."