ARTIST: Herbert William Weekes (British, c.1842 - c.1909)
NAME: Man Playing Pipe
MEDIUM: oil on canvas
CONDITION: Minor craquelure. No visible inpaint under UV light.
SIGHT SIZE: 12 x 10 inches / 30 x 25 cm
FRAME SIZE: 17 x 14 inches / 43 x 35 cm
SIGNATURE: lower left
NAME VARIANTS: William Weeks
CATEGORY: antique vintage painting
SKU#: 116677
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BIOGRAPHY:
A well-known British genre and animal painter of the Victorian Neoclassical period, he specialized in portraying animals in humorous, human-like situations.
Weekes was born ca. 1842 in Pimlico, London, England to a prominent artistic family: the youngest of five children of his father, Henry Weekes, Sr. and Henry's first wife, Susan Hammond Weekes. In 1865, he married Caroline Anne Henshaw of Hammersmith.
William was a sculptor and Royal Academician; his brother, Henry Jr., was also a genre painter known for his animal studies; and his brother, Frederick, was an artist and expert on medieval costume and design.
Weekes appears to have used his middle name, William, for all but formal purposes. He lived and worked for most of his life in London, at 21 Oppidans Road, Primrose Hill.
Known as an animal and genre painter of the Victorian Neo-classical style, Weekes did work, which was popular, and helped expand 19th century animal painting from its traditional role of simply recording beasts into a way of reflecting human life.
He frequently personified animals and placed them in situations particular to humans. His work shows a sensitive understanding of his subject matter, and part of his success in capturing the peaceful country atmosphere depicted in so many of his paintings lay in his affection for it. He was greatly influenced
by one of the foremost animal painters of the nineteenth century, Sir Edwin Henry Landseer.
Weekes contributed illustrations for The Illustrated London News in 1883, and exhibited extensively in various London and provincial galleries. His works were well received - although not by everyone: a contemporary wit described his paintings as "Weekes' Weak Squeaks".
His works were alternatively signed with the initials 'WW' (sometimes overlaid), 'W. Weekes', 'William Weekes', 'Herbert William Weekes', 'H.W. Weekes', 'H. Weekes', and simply 'Weekes'.