A lovely genre painting by Charles Haigh Wood of two women in a country house interior. A young woman in Regency dress can be seen seated in front of an embroidery stand in an elegant morning room. She is posed half turned towards another woman who is shown seated beside her wearing a bonnet and holding a letter in her hand. Behind the women, an open window offers a glimpse of a spring garden with a woodland beyond.

Charles Haigh Wood was a genre painter born in Bury, Manchester on 9 May, 1854 to Charles Wood, and his wife Mary (née Haigh). His father was a carver and gilder and ran a business from their home at 22 Fleet Street, Bury. Wood attended Bury Grammar school and after showing an early talent for painting enrolled at Manchester School of Art, where he won a bronze medal. At the age of 17, he left Bury to study at the Royal Academy of Art in London. A year later in 1874 he began exhibiting at the Royal Society of British Artists and in 1879 made his debut at the Royal Academy.

Although he found success in London, he often returned to Bury staying with his parents who had moved to 14 Albion Place. Whilst his work mainly consisted of historical genre paintings usually of the Regency period, he also painted a number of portraits. Over the years, he was commissioned to paint portraits of the Mayors of Bury, some of which are held by the Bury Art Museum. During his stay in London he met his future wife Rose Esther Robinson and they married in the spring of 1886. The couple made their home at 56 Broadhurst Gardens in Hampstead but continued to visit Bury where their daughter Vivienne was born in 1888. Vivienne later married the author TS Eliot.

In 1888, the same year his daughter was born, he was elected a member of the 19th Century Art Society. As well as exhibiting in London he also exhibited in Bury and in Manchester. A special exhibition of his paintings was held at the Corporation Art Gallery, Bury on 30 April, 1910 in recognition of his work. As well as oil painting, he also began producing etchings which were turned into engravings and was elected an Associate member of the Royal Society of Painter-Etchers and Engravers in 1917. Haigh-Wood died on 25 March 1927 at the Warrior House Hotel Hastings.

Examples of his work can be found in a number of public art collections including the Atkinson Art Gallery, Bury Art Museum, Guildhall Art Gallery, National Museum Cardiff, Victoria & Albert Museum, Williamson Art Gallery and Wiltshire Museum.

© Benton Fine Art