John Warrington Wood
Born 9 September 1839
Died 26 December 1886
Active: 1868 - 1885
Country of birth and death: England
Sculptor, stonemason
Born in Warrington, Lancashire, his given name at birth was John Wood. Warrington was added c.1865 presumably to avoid confusion with other artists of a similar name. He was the son of James Wood (bap. 1819, d. 1880/81), who was a road surveyor for Warrington but had started his career as a stonemason.
John followed his father into the stonemasonry business, and was apprenticed c.1855–c.1863. From 1858 Wood attended the new Warrington School of Art (Warrington Collegiate Institute) in the evenings. He won early recognition in the north west and local patronage was one of the cornerstones of his later career.
In 1865 Wood went to Rome and established a highly successful practice, chiefly creating portrait busts and ideal works on sacred themes. He was able to purchase the Villa Campana, near the church of San Giovanni in Laterano in Rome where he operated an open house policy to visitors and other artists. Wood also paid regular visits to London and his house in Sloane Street.
In 1877 he was elected to the Guild of St Luke in Rome, a singular honour for a foreign artist. Wood died suddenly of complications of a heart condition at his apartments in the Lion Hotel in Bridge Street, Warrington. There are two works by him in the Warrington; 'Nestlings' which is a portrait of two children one holding a bird's nest, Mary Helen Stubs and Peter Stubs. The other work represents St Michael overcoming the Devil.
Wealth at death: £386 5s. 11d.
Probate date: 7 December 1887
Works
Dates are usually the year a work was exhibited so may differ from date of production.
New entries have been made each time a work was exhibited. Click here for more information.
Locations
Address 7 Trinita de Monti Rome | View on map
1868 - 1975
Address Villa Campagna Rome | View on map
1874 (Circa) - 1886
Address 78 Sloane Street Cadogan Square London | View on map
1880 (Circa) - 1886
Exhibitions, Meetings, Awards and other Events
Exhibited at Royal Manchester Institution, Exhibition of the Works of Modern Artists, 1880
'Bust of Richard Haworth Esq.'
Exhibited at Royal Manchester Institution, Exhibition of the Works of Modern Artists, 1875
Multiple works
Exhibited at The Exhibition of the Royal Academy of Arts (Summer Exhibition), 1768-
1868 - 1884
Exhibited 11 times, an average of two works per year (three or four from 1868-1872 then one or two thereafter) - a mixture of portrait busts and ideal works on religious themes.
Exhibited at Liverpool autumn exhibition of modern pictures: the second (Free Public Library and Museum, Liverpool), 1872
1872
Hector (cat. no. 949, marble, not for sale).
Exhibited at Liverpool autumn exhibition of modern pictures: the third (Free Public Library and Museum, Liverpool), 1873
1873
The Israelitish Maid (cat. no. 1037, marble, not for sale).
Exhibited at Liverpool autumn exhibition of modern pictures: the fifth (Free Public Library and Museum, Liverpool), 1875
1875
Mrs Hamilton, Sen., of Craighlaw, Kirkcowan, NB (cat. no. 1098, marble bust, not for sale).
Exhibited at Liverpool autumn exhibition of modern pictures: the seventh (Liverpool), 1877
1877
The Murmur of the Shell - Ethel Lizette, Youngest Daughter of His Worship the Mayor, A. B. Walker, Esq. (cat. no. 1319, marble, not for sale).
Exhibited at Autumn exhibition of modern pictures: the eighth (Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool), 1878
1878
Holbrook Gaskell, Esq. (cat. no. 1036, not for sale).
Exhibited at Liverpool autumn exhibition of modern pictures: the ninth (Liverpool), 1879
1879
The Sisters of Bethany (cat. no. 1327, not for sale - presumably a sculpture but not specified in the exhibition catalogue).
Exhibited at Liverpool autumn exhibition of modern pictures: the tenth (Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool), 1880
1880
Statue of Sir Andrew Barclay Walker, Kt, donor of the Walker Art Gallery (cat. no. 1078, 'erected by Public Subscription, September 3rd, 1880', not for sale).
Exhibited at Autumn exhibition of modern pictures: the eleventh (Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool), 1881
1881
William Beamont, Esq. (cat. no. 1419, not for sale).
Exhibited at Autumn exhibition of pictures, in oil and water-colours: the fifteenth (Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool), 1885
1885
Ruth and Naomi (cat. no. 1449, marble, £900).
Institutional and Business Connections
Commissioned by Walker Art Gallery
1875 - 1878
To create statues for the newly built Walker Art Gallery. The subjects were: Michelangelo representing sculpture; Raphael representing painting (placed on either side of the portico); and an allegorical figure of Liverpool (on the summit of the pediment). Four low reliefs representing events in the history of the city were added c.1878.
Honorary member of Manchester Academy of Fine Arts
Unsuccessful in ballot for election to Royal Academy of Arts
Personal and Professional Connections
Nominated by Lawrence Alma- Tadema
16 June 1885
For RA; unsuccessful.
Seconded by John Everett Millais
16 June 1885
For RA; unsuccessful.
Sources
Autumn exhibition of pictures, in oil and water-colours: the fifteenth, 1885 Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool
1885
pp. 85-87.
Catalogue of the Exhibition of the Works of Modern Artists, City of Manchester Art Gallery, 1875
1875
Cat. No. 804, p. 74
Catalogue of the Exhibition of the Works of Modern Artists, City of Manchester Art Gallery, 1878
1878
p. 4
Catalogue of the Exhibition of the Works of Modern Artists, City of Manchester Art Gallery, 1880
1880
Cat. No. 1165, pp. 90, 112
Liverpool autumn exhibition of modern pictures, 1872 Walker Art Gallery
1872
p. 35.
Liverpool autumn exhibition of modern pictures, 1873 Walker Art Gallery
1873
pp. 39-40.
Liverpool autumn exhibition of modern pictures, 1875 Walker Art Gallery
1875
pp. 41-42.
Liverpool autumn exhibition of modern pictures, 1877 Walker Art Gallery
1877
pp. 69-71.
Liverpool autumn exhibition of modern pictures, 1879 Walker Art Gallery
1879
pp. 79-82.
Liverpool autumn exhibition of modern pictures, 1880 Walker Art Gallery
1880
pp. 67-69.
Liverpool autumn exhibition of modern pictures, 1881 Walker Art Gallery
1881
pp. 81-82.
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
2004
Cherry Elizabeth Gray, ‘Wood, John Warrington (1839–1886)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/64510, accessed 8 Jan 2010]
Royal Academy of Arts Nominations for Associateship, 1866-1906
1906
See entries for 1885.
Citing this record
'John Warrington Wood', Mapping the Practice and Profession of Sculpture in Britain and Ireland 1851-1951, University of Glasgow History of Art and HATII, online database 2011 [http://sculpture.gla.ac.uk/view/person.php?id=msib5_1219927903, accessed 02 Jun 2023]
