.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
Goodwin's early work was very much influenced by the Pre-Raphaelites - in about 1860 he was introduced by Arthur Hughes to Ford Madox Brown and became his pupil, a relationship that lasted for several years. Ruskin was to complete Goodwin's artistic education. Goodwin seems to have met Ruskin about 1869. Goodwin was a rare phenomenon, an artist who literally put into practice the programme that Ruskin, inspired by Turner, enunciated in Modern Painters. It is to Goodwin's credit that he realized that Ruskin was advocating the painstaking study of nature as an essential springboard for flights of imagination.
Goodwin exhibited regularly at the Royal Academy from 1860 to 1920. In 1871 he was elected to the Royal Watercolour Society, where he continued to exhibit until his death. He travelled extensively in Britain and Europe visiting Egypt (1876), India, (1895), the West Indies and North America (1902, 1912) and New Zealand (1917). But the poetic tendency which is present even in his 'purest' landscapes would often become dominant, leading him to use landscapes as a basis for literary or Biblical themes.
Goodwin exhibited regularly at the Royal Academy from 1860 to 1920. In 1871 he was elected to the Royal Watercolour Society, where he continued to exhibit until his death. He travelled extensively in Britain and Europe visiting Egypt (1876), India, (1895), the West Indies and North America (1902, 1912) and New Zealand (1917). But the poetic tendency which is present even in his 'purest' landscapes would often become dominant, leading him to use landscapes as a basis for literary or Biblical themes.