Homewards by William Henry James Boot, South Shields Museum & Art Gallery
William Henry James Boot (1848 – 1918)
Homewards, c.1885-1910
Oil on canvas
Boot was born in Manchester and moved to London where he worked as an artist and illustrator, and also as a writer. He was a member of the Royal Society of British Artists and The Arts Club and exhibited paintings at the Royal Academy. In Homewards Boot shows an idyllic rural scene. A mother and child pause in a lush landscape close to the elegant trunk of a silver birch tree. The artist has enjoyed capturing the light and tones of the grass, thistles, flowers and leaves which spread all around. In the background nestles a cottage, perhaps the destination of the lingering figures who seem, like the viewer, to be in awe of the beauty of nature.
