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*** Article now available online at John L. Wimbush ***
John L Wimbush (Jan 1854–15 March 1914) was an English landscape and portrait painter.

Born in London, England, Wimbush first exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1888 and went on to mount several other exhibitions there over the years. He also exhibited at the Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours and Royal Society of British Artists in London, and in other cities in England.

The spelling Wimbush is not found in his birth record. It is believed that letter 'L' did not stand for anything. It was just an initial. He died at Totnes – an artistic area in Devon on the South Coast – age 60 on 15 March 1914.

Bishopsgate
John L Wimbush's father was Edward John Winbush, Licensed Victualler of the The Old Four Penny Shop Hotel, Warwick and subsequently the Magpie and PunchBowl Hotel, Bishopsgate from 1852.

FOR RESEARCH    John L Wimbush on Google

From records at Somerset House John Winbush was born at Bishopsgate Within on January 16th 1854. He was probably born at the home of his parents, the Magpie and PunchBowl pub. His parents were Edward and Sarah (nee Stevens) Winbush. He was baptised in the family church, St Ethelburga's Bishopsgate, on 12 February 1854. John was the second born and the second son of a family of 11. He ultimately had 5 brothers and 4 sisters. The building 100 Bishopsgate now stands on the original site of the Magpie and PunchBowl.

On the 1871 census Winbush was still living at 58 Bishopgate Street London. He was listed as an 'Artist student'. At this time he was 17 years of age. On the census document his name was given as John Winbush.

Sometime after this he changed his surname from Winbush to Wimbush. It is believed that he was the only family member to do so. Why he did this is unknown but it is believed that the original family name was Wimbush. His father’s name was Edward Winbush, with a possible grandfather's name as John Wimbush. It seems that it was not that he was different to the rest of the family, maybe it was the rest of the family whose name was misspelt. In those days, there were many alternative spellings for family names. It appears that all of the Winbush children were well educated and it appears that it must have been a definite decision on his part to change the spelling of his name. From then on he went by the name John L. Wimbush. There was another artist at the same time Henry Bowser Wimbush but known as Henry B. Wimbush. John Wimbush may have liked this artist’s name and just added the L. as it made him sound more distinguished. Later, on the 1911 census in Devon his name was given as John Lewis Winbush.

John Wimbush developed as an artist and around 1875, or so, he got his own studio. Early on, as many artists did, he may have shared a studio with other artists.

Fitzroy Square
Initially John was based in London. He became a friend of the American painter, James McNeil Whistler. Whistler lived for a time at No. 8 Fitzroy Square in Camden Town. John Wimbush's career as an artist was centred around this same area for the last part of the 19th century.

Wimbush moved in artist circles and his path would have crossed with many other major artists of the day. There was a vibrant community of artists around Fitzroy Square and Fitzroy Street. He was friends with the artist Albert Ludovici. It is believed that he also met the famous impressionist, Claude Monet, when he visited London. There are very interesting articles in Wikipedia devoted to such places of relevance to Wimbush as: Fitzroy Street, The Fitzroy Street Art Group and the Fitzroy Tavern. The specific area where Wimbush had his studio in Camden Town is today known as Fitzrovia.

CHECK FURTHER   It has been Winbush lore that the painting Arrangement in Grey and Black: The Artist’s mother, better known as Whistler's Mother was painted in Wimbush's studio. It was also said that the chair, and the rug in the painting belonged to Wimbush and that later they were inherited by Winbush family members. I need to see some corroborating evidence for this. Whistler’s Mother was painted in 1871. John turned 17 at the start of this year and in the 1871 census he is listed as an art student still living at 58 Bishopsgate. In 1871 James McNeill Whistler was much older than John. In that year he turned 37. Whistler’s Mother was painted at Whistler’s house at the time in Cheyne Walk in Chelsea. This was about 10 kilometres from where John was living at Bishopsgate and about 6 kilometres from Fitzroy Street. The idea that Whistler’s Mother was painted in John’s art studio does not seem to match up. It would also be odd if a 17 year old art student had his own studio. It may have been that John was initially studying art with Whistler and for a while they shared a studio.

One of Wimbush's friends was Walter Richard Sickert. Sickert took up painting in 1881. He then became a pupil and etching assistant to James Whistler. Although Sickert was 8 years younger than John they may have been fellow students. Sickert later became a prominent art teacher himself. A theory was put forward many years after the death of Walter Sickert. The thought is that Walter may have had a double life. Today, he may be better known by another name - 'Jack the Ripper'.

A painting by Wimbush, An opium den At Lime Street was painted in 1889. It is the only painting known that includes an address. The Lime Street referred to is in the district of Limehouse. Lime Street is less than 1 kilometre from Bishopsgate. Limehouse and Lime Street sometimes mistakenly thought to be derived from the nickname for the seamen that disembarked there, who had earned the name Lime—juicers or limeys after the obligatory ration of lime juice the Royal Navy gave their sailors to ward off scurvy. The area achieved notoriety for opium dens in the late 19th century, often featured in pulp fiction works by Sax Rohmer and others. The name Limehouse, originally spelt Lymehouse, actually goes back to the 1300s and referred to the lime kilns that were once there.

The Mutualart website notes: "John L. Wimbush is a 19th Century painter. John L. Wimbush’s work has been offered at auction multiple times, with realised prices raining from $338 USD to $53,278 USD, depending on the size and medium of the artwork. Since 1998 the record price for this artist at an auction is $53,278 USD for an opium den at lime street, sold at Sothebys London in 2008."

Sotheby’s auction notes said that the painting An opium den at Lime Street was valued at £40,000 - 60,000 and sold for £36,050. In 2008 £36,050 converts to the $53,278 USD figure given above. It is signed J.L. WIMBUSH.: further signed, titled and inscribed on an old label attached to the the stretcher oil on canvas 101 by 152 cm.: 40 by 60 in. PROVENANCE Lucian Freud and thence to his friend Charlie Thomas who gave the picture to Marianne Faithful; Private Collection EXHIBITED Possibly Royal Academy, 1889, no. 1772 as Lingering Clouds An Opium Den at Lime Street John L. Wimbush

The following notes on the painting, An opium den at Lime Street are found on the 'Invaluable' web-site. Notes: PROPERTY OF A GENTLEMAN ‘I am engulfed, and drown deliciously. Soft music like a perfume, and sweet light Golden with audible odours exquisite, Swathe me with cerements for eternity. Time is no more. I pause and yet I flee. A million ages wrap me round with night. I drain a million ages of delight. I hold the future in memory.’

It is likely that this picture is the one entitled Lingering Clouds exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1889, the title alluding to the rings of thick smoke swirling above the recumbent figures in an east End opium den. The image of the Chinatown opium den run by wicked Oriental immigrants luring innocent Westerners into a life of destitution and addiction, was one made popular in late nineteenth century literature and lurid newspaper stories. East London opium dens appear in Charles Dickens’ The Mystery of Edward Drood and famously in Oscar Wilde's 'Picture of Dorian Gray' and the Sherlock Holmes adventure ‘The Man with the Twisted Lip’. The most infamous dens were at New Court in Shadwell and colourful newspaper accounts of denizens of New Court were popular abounded. The poet Arthur Symons, whose description of opium smoking is given above, wrote to a friend in 1892 and gave this enlightening account of the hold that the drug had on the addicted: ‘I open this again to tell you of a strange girl I met at Franhaus’ [the home of a popular novelist of the time] last night - an extraordinary looking young Jewess, about 20, with a long lithe body like a snakes. Great red dangerous mouth, and enormous dark amber eyes that half shut and then expand like great poisonous flowers. ‘Nuffing amuses me,’ she said, with her curious childish lisp, ‘everything bores me. Nuffing ever did amuse me. I have nuffing to amuse me, nobody to be amused with. I don’t care for men, women’s talk always bores me. What am I to do? I don’t know what to do with myself. All I care for is to sleep. Tell me what is there that will give me a new sensation? And she lay back and gazed at me through half-shut lids. I bent down and whispered ‘Opium.’ Her eyes opened with almost a flat of joy. ‘Yes, there is opium. Where can I get it?’ (Antony Clayton, Decadent London - Fin de Siecle City, 2005, p. 81)

Although many potentially dangerous and addictive narcotics were readily available over the counter at many Victorian pharmacies, towards the end of the nineteenth century, opium was increasingly perceived to be a great threat to the moral fabric of the country. Following the two Opium Wars, the trade from China to Europe expanded greatly, from a hundred tons in 1800 to two thousand tons in 1837. The advances in steam navigation in the 1870s led to an influx in Chinese immigrants to Europe and with them came a ready supply of the drug and the proprietors of the dens that opened in the slums of the larger cities. Newspapers and authors portrayed London as the European centre of opium smoking particularly around Limehouse and Shadwell, but this was unjustified and the number of regular visitors to London opium dens probably did not exceed a few hundred and no nineteenth century photograph has ever been found of a London opium smoker. The image of the debauched and sordid opium addict languishing in East End dens was largely the invention of artists and writers.

In Wimbush's painting, the three figures are Chinese men clearly under the influence of opium and the purpose of the picture appears to have been to depict a social ill threatening the moralities of the age. The men are reclining on a low bed so that they are able to hold the long pipes used for smoking the opium, heated over the glowing lamp shown on a tray brought by a servant. This painting has a fascinating provenance having being owned by the artist Lucien Freud and later by the singer Marianne faithful.

The word 'provenance' means a chronology of ownership. Lucien Freud was the grandson of Sigmund Freud and was himself a well known British artist specialising in figurative art. Marianne Faithful, was the girlfriend of Mick Jagger of the Rolling Stones.

A letter from James McNeill Whistler refers to John Wimbush. In the letter to a Mrs Pennell, dated 28th November 1897, Whistler closes with: "I wish you would send for Ludovici - and read him my letters, that he may know, for I am fond of him, and he will then be ready to meet Sickert when he comes upon him in the little restaurant in Charlotte Street. He might ask Walter if he is writing a pleasing article for the Baronet on the trial. Ludovici must tell Wimbush. Take care of this letter - we may require it."

'Ludovici must tell Wimbush' was written in the right-hand margin at right angles to the main text. Charlotte Street starts just a couple of houses from 8 Fitzroy Street and is a continuation of Fitzroy Street.

The painting Waiting for a bite is signed J. L. Wimbush/1901 (lower left) and signed ‘Royal Academy Exhibition/No 2/J. L. Wimbush/8 Fitzroy Street/Fitzroy Square/Waiting a Bite’ (on the artist’s label, attached to the reverse). This gives us an address for John Wimbush as 8 Fitzroy Street but also Fitzroy Square. There is a bit of confusion here as 8 Fitzroy Street is a few doors away from Fitzroy Square. 8 Fitzroy Square is a separate place. 8 Fitzroy Square is where Whistler lived for a time. This painting, Waiting for a bite, made into a jigsaw.

It is known that Whistler used Wimbush’s studio at Fitzroy Street for photography late in the 1890s. He brought in some photographers to take pictures of his paintings.

"As the light was not good for the photographer, some canvasses were moved out in the hall, some were put on the roof, but the best place was discovered to be Mr. Wimbush’s studio on the same building."

In 1901 Wimbush's studio was in Fitzroy Street. This and Fitzroy Square is the address for Wimbush's studio while he was in London in the 1890s and early 1900s.

James Whistler died in 1903. For a time early in the 1900s, after Wimbush left for Dartmouth in Devon, 8 Fitzroy Street became Walter Sickert’s studio. In 1907 Sickert formed the Fitzroy Street Group, an organisation created to support artists. This group first met at 8 Fitzroy Street before moving to 19 Fitzroy Street. In 1917 Sickert did a picture, Entrance to 8 Fitzroy Street, Whistler’s Studio. Although, Sickert’s painting refers to 'Whistler’s Studio' it may have been Wimbush's studio that Whistler was using at the time.

Again this is where the confusion between the 2 localities lies. One reference says Whistler lived at No. 8 Fitzroy Square. Sickert said that Whistler’s studio was at No. 8 Fitzroy Street, Fitzroy Square. They may or may not be referring to the same place. The distance from 8 Fitzroy square to 8 Fitzroy street is about 320 metres. James Whistler had died many years before Walter Sickert did the picture. 8 Fitzroy Street is just north west of the centre of London and is right in the centre of the area which today is known as Fitzrovia. It is about 5 kilometres from Wimbush's boyhood home at Bishopsgate. Today 8 Fitzroy Street is a 6 storey low rise building in London erected in 1946.

In 1913 Malcolm Drummond did a painting of the interior of Walter Sickert’s studio at 19 Fitzroy street. I can’t find a picture of the interior of one of Wimbush's studios but this painting shows us what a typical studio of the time looked like. There also is another painting by Walter Sickert entitled, The Studio: The painting of a nude, 1906. This shows the interior of Walters studio in 1906. I believe that this studio is the best possibility for previously being the studio in which Wimbush did his paintings. There are a number of other works by Sickert which show the inside of his studio. From the web-site devoted to James Whistler:

Identity: John L. Wimbush was a figurative and landscape painter and illustrator. He worked in London from 1890-1902 and then in Dartmouth. Life: He contributed to the Strand Magazine from 1891, The World Wide Magazine [1898]; The Idler and The Boy’s Own Magazine. He is referred to in JW’s [James Whistler’s] correspondence about 1897. Bibliography: UK census 1901; Wood, Christopher, The Dictionary of Victorian Artists, 2nd ed., revised, Woodbridge, 1978.

CHECK FURTHER   Family members believe that Wimbush was an R.A. This meant that he was a Royal Academician. To be included in this list you had to be under the age of 75 and professionally active as an artist or architect in the UK. Next 8 other RAs had to endorse the nomination before a vote was taken where new members were voted in. The number of RAs at any one time is limited to 80. I have searched the list of past RAs and as of yet I have not been able to find his name on their web-site.

From the 1800s and into the early 1900s Fitzroy street developed a reputation as a Bohemian area. Numerous people of note lived in the vicinity. The artists, writers and intellectuals who lived and worked in the area in the late 19th and early 20th century included Clive Bell, Ford Madox Brown, Quentin Crisp, Thomas Musgrave Joy, John Maynard Keynes, Karl Marx, George Orwell, Robert Stevenson, Lytton Strachey, Dylan Thomas, Arthur Rimbaud, George Bernard Shaw, Richard Wilson and Virginia Woolf. Lord Salisbury served as the Prime Minister of England 3 times over 13 years starting in 1885. His home was at 21 Fitzroy Square. Later in the 1960s many English bands lived or were associated with Fitzrovia. These included Pink Floyd, Procul Harem, Jimi Hendrix and Bob Dylan. Another important historical who lived at No. 56 Fitzroy Street in the early 1800s was Matthew Flinders. He later went on to become the second person to circumnavigate Australia but the first around Van Diemen’s Land. He also was the first to explore Port Phillip Bay, the site of the future city of Melbourne.

Dartmouth
According to Whistler's web-site John Wimbush moved to Dartmouth around 1902. Why he moved to Dartmouth and where exactly his studio and residence was is in that location is also unknown.

Interestingly the painter Henry B. Wimbush also did numerous illustrations and drawings around Devon and Cornwall at this time as well and it is believed that the website devoted to Whistler above confuses the two. It was Henry B. Wimbush who was the book illustrator and postcard artist.

Portait of a girl is attributed to John L. Wimbush on the web-site However in the Dartmouth museum’s booklet it is attributed to Henry B. Wimbush. Turning Heads (One is a series)

In Dartmouth, he painted the mayor, Charles Peek. This painting is currently held at the Dartmouth Guildhall. Charles Peek was mayor from 1911-1914 and then again from 1919-1921. The date on the Charles Peek painting is 1912. This would have been one of the last paintings done by Wimbush as he died 2 years later in 1914.

Many of his paintings included a small white dog with black marking which was thought to be his. CHECK   Dartmouth Museum   Refer paintings on the Dartmouth Museum Register  (However "Portrait of a Girl" was not his painting).

In the 1911 Devon census John Lewis Winbush, was listed. His profession was given as a 'painter artist'. This entry gives his surname as 'Winbush' and not 'Wimbush'. It is unknown why he used the initial 'L' or why on this census it was listed as 'Lewis'.

John Wimbush died in the artistic area of Totnes in Devon on March 15th 1914 at age 60. World War 1 started just a few months after this. Totnes is about 25 kilometres north west of Dartmouth. I believe that he is buried in the Totnes cemetery as J L Wimbush.

Wimbush left a will with probate dated 2nd February 1915. His estate went to his older brother Edward Thomas Winbush, science master and to Thomas Braithwaite, jeweler. His effects totaled £73 16s 7d. CHECK FURTHER I have not been able to find out anything about a jeweler with the name Thomas Braithwaite. I have done a quick search and come up many images of John’s paintings.

A list of some of his paintings provided below. A number were auctioned in the years 1993 - 2018.

The Australian architect Harry Winbush is a nephew of John Wimbush.

A list of major paintings by John L Wimbush
The mischievous magpie 29.8 x 24.1cm 1886 March 12th 1997

An Opium Den At Lime Street J. L. Wimbush Further signed, titled and inscribed on an old label attached to the stretcher 1889 £36,050 Sotheby’s December 9th 2008

Waiting for a bite J. L. Wimbush /1901 Inscribed and signed ‘Royal Academy Exhibition/No 2/J. L. Wimbush/8 Fitzroy Street/Fitzroy Square/ Waiting a Bite’ (on the artist’s label, attached to the reverse) Oil on canvas 1901 Christie’s March 15th 2012

The Music Lesson J. L. Wimbush 188’ Oil on canvas 60.9 x 45.7cm £1,155 - £1,650 Invaluable

A cook preparing the fish John L. Wimbush A cook preparing the fish, signed lower right and unclearly dated oil on canvas, 60.5 x 51cm £800 - £1200 Venduehuis, The Hague November 15, 2017

A peasant woman in a headscarf 38 x 28cm Oil on board

The toy seller J. L. Wimbush Pair with The vegetable barrow 76.8 x 51.1cm £5000 - £7000 (for the pair) Invaluable September/ December 3rd 2008

The vegetable barrow J. L. Wimbush Pair with The toy seller 76.8 x 51.1cm £5000 - £7000 (for the pair) Invaluable September/ December 3rd 2008

Man with music score John L. Wimbush Oil on canvas, 60 x 45cm framed £370

Wash day June 2nd 1993

The night watch John L. Wimbush Oil on board, 20 x 33cm unframed Undisclosed Rowley Fine Art Auctioneers August 31rd 2016

As Cores da Arte John L. Wimbush

An English sailor John L. Wimbush Oil on canvas 51 x 36cm

A girl Turning Heads as she returns from market John L. Wimbush Oil painting on canvas, framed canvas size: 102 x 59cm plus frame provenance: Delightful, large scale Victorian genre oil painting depicting a young girls turning heads in Private UK collection September 11th 2018

Turning Heads (Series) John L. Wimbush Large Victorian Oils

Portrait of a girl Dartmouth Museum

The jester Dartmouth Museum

Charles Peek, Mayor of Dartmouth 1912 Dartmouth Guildhall