A wonderful sporting painting of a spaniel with game by William Arnold Woodhouse. A Cumberland spaniel is depicted seated by an oak chest looking upwards at dead game. A shotgun is shown leaning against the chest, whilst another pigeon and a shooting bag lie the dog’s feet. A gun cartridge can also be seen to the left of the dog’s front paw.

William Arnold Woodhouse was a sporting and landscape artist born in the coastal village of Poulton Le Sands, Lancashire in 1857 to James Woodhouse & Hannah Baxter. He came from a farming family and lived with his family at 13 Queen’s Terrace in Poulton Le Sands, now part of Morecambe. He attended the National Church of England School in Morecambe before studying art at the Mechanic’s Institute in Lancaster. However, for the most part he was self-taught.

From childhood, Woodhouse had a great love of the outdoors and often sketched animals and birds in their natural surrounds. He set up his first studio in Morecambe on the corner of Edward Street and Market Street. As well as painting in his local area, he would travel all over the British Isles to paint and draw including spending time on the Farne Islands to sketch birds. His work soon earned him a reputation and he began receiving commissions from wealthy patrons.

In 1887, he made his debut at the Royal Academy which brought him wider fame and success. He also exhibited at the Royal Scottish Academy, Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolours and the Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool. He also exhibited locally in Lancaster and Preston. He married Maria Elizabeth Emsley in 1895 and made their home in Poulton. The couple went on to have two children together and their son Ronald Basil Emsley Woodhouse also became an artist and etcher. In 1899, Woodhouse decided to travel abroad to tour the Mediterranean visiting Turkey and Greece. From his travels he produced a series of paintings.

His success enabled him to design and build a house and studio called Kenilcote in Regent Road where he remained until just after the turn of the new century. Around 1902, he made his final move to Auburn in Furness Road, residing there for 37 years. In 1927, his friend Sydney Paviere, who was Curator at the Harris Art Gallery and Museum in Preston, organised an exhibition of over seventy of his works and later held a posthumous exhibition of eighty nine paintings in 1939. Woodhouse died at his home on Furness Road in Morecambe on 13 January, 1939. The Morecambe Guardian published his obituary on 21 January which also included a contribution from Paviere.

The Lancaster Maritime Museum holds a collection of his works including family portraits and Lancaster City Museum houses a number of sketches and paintings. Other examples are held by Calderdale Metropolitan Borough Council, Clitheroe Castle Museum and Harris Museum, Preston.

© Benton Fine Art