A wonderful genre painting of a woman sewing next to a window by John Haynes Williams. A young woman, wearing a blue dress and red head scarf, is depicted sitting on a chair sewing a piece of white cloth. A sewing basket and cotton reel can be seen on a gate leg table beside her, whilst a flowering pot plant sits on the window sill. The view through the window shows the viewer a glimpse of other houses and a tree.

John Haynes Williams was a genre painter born in Worcester on 7 February, 1835 to Thomas and Anne Williams (née Haynes). His father was glazier who later became superintendent of Worcester Cemetery. Although little is known about his education, he would have attended one of the local schools as his father would not been able to afford a private education. After leaving school, he took a job as a printer; most likely taking art lessons in his spare time before deciding to pursue a career as an artist.

He started exhibiting at the Royal Society of British Artists in 1861 and in 1863 he moved to London to become a full time artist and began exhibiting at the Royal Academy. He became a regular contributor at the RA for the remainder of his life. Around this time, he began signing his works ‘John Haynes Williams’. Much of his output consisted of genre scenes but after a trip to Andalusia in Spain in the early to mid 1860’s, he also began producing a series of Spanish inspired works.

In 1865, he married Rosina Hall and together the couple lived at Barrow Hill (later renamed St Edmunds Terrace) in St Johns Wood. During the same year as his marriage, he also started exhibiting at the British Institution. After spending over a decade in St John’s Wood, he moved to Hampstead in 1883 where he lived at Maresfield Gardens, continuing to paint and exhibit. By 1893, he had moved to Eastbourne in Sussex where he lived for the rest of his life. In 1903, Williams travelled to America to visit his daughter Ethel who lived there for a time. He spent his final years living at Wridhern, De Roos Road where he died on 7 November, 1908.

Examples of his work are held by Belfast City Hall, Dundee Art Gallery, Manchester Art Gallery, Glasgow Museum, National Museum Cardiff, Russell-Cotes Art Gallery, Scarborough Art Gallery, Tate, Ulster Museum and Worcester City Art Gallery.

© Benton Fine Art