Life
George Boughton was born on December 4, 1833, in a village near Norwich, Norfolk, England. His father, a farmer, sought more successful profits across the Atlantic, so in 1834, Boughton’s family relocated to Albany, New York. Unfortunately, Boughton’s parents died several years later, leaving him in the care of his older brothers. Boughton’s education began in Albany at the District School, followed by a commercial academy, but all his spare moments were occupied by his efforts to observe and recreate pictorially the people and things around him. He began drawing and teaching himself the ways of art.[1] His picture The Wayfarer won success at the American Art Union Exhibition in New York.[2]
Boughton took up a studio some time later in Albany, and in 1856 went to England to acquaint himself with the work of the British School.[3] Returning from travels in the British Isles to New York, Boughton made his next success in 1858 at the New York Academy of Design with Winter Twilight. In 1860, still pursuing his studies of art on his own and only by the guidance of Edward May, a pupil of Couture and Edouard Frère, he went to Paris, where he remained for two years until settling in London for the rest of his career. In 1863, he contributed Through the Fields and Hop-Pickers Returning to the Royal Academy, where he exhibited annually, sending eighty-seven pictures in total, until his death.
On February 9, 1865, he married Katherine Louisa and became an Associate of the Royal Academy in 1879, as well as a member of the Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolour. Boughton achieved full membership at the Royal Academy in 1896. Making a name for himself through his distinct style, depicting scenes of peasant life in Brittany and Holland, and scenes of romance in the Puritan days of New England, Boughton found success in painting and illustration alike. He died on January 19, 1905, from heart disease at his home, West House, Campden Hill, built for him by Richard Norman Shaw. He was cremated at Golders Green, where his ashes are deposited. An exhibition of his works was held in 1905 at the Leicester Galleries in London.[4]