David Woodlock, English, 1842-1929
Title: Portrait of Cardinal John Henry Newman (1801-1890)
Date: c.1888
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions:
53.3 x 43.1 cm
Signed: upper left: D Woodlock
Credit Line: Purchased, 1987
Object Number: NGI.4525
DescriptionBorn in London, John Henry Newman attended Trinity College, Oxford and was a fellow at Oriel College from 1822 to 1832. Concerned by developments within the Anglican ministry, he was a key figure in the foundation of the Oxford Movement in 1833, and ultimately converted to Catholicism in 1845. From 1854 to 1858 he served as Rector of the newly-created Catholic University of Ireland (later re-established as University College). He was an influential writer and theologian, and published his autobiography Apologia pro Vita in 1864. The pose assumed by the Cardinal in Woodlock's portrait was derived from a photograph of 1888. Borrowing in this way was a fairly common practice among portraitists in the late nineteenth century. Woodlock studied painting at the Liverpool Academy Schools and School of Art. He frequently exhibited at the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool and the Royal Academy in London. He painted genre scenes as well as portraits.