Homewards

Homewards (c. 1885-1910) by William Henry James Boot (1848-1914), Shields Museum & Art Gallery

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 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 sever 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.

William Henry James Boot (1848 – 8 September 1918) was an English oil and watercolour artist, illustrator and author.

He was born in Manchester, England, going on to exhibit at the Royal Academy in London (from 1874 to 1884); and becoming a member of the Royal Society of British Artists. He worked for periodicals, including the Illustrated London News and The Art Journal.

Boot was also a member of The Arts Club, who listed him as a “painter and writer on Gothic architecture”. He painted landscapes in England, Europe and North Africa, and also provided illustrations for books (see below).

Boot lived in London and married Emily who survived him (d. 1929). They were both buried in Hampstead.