15 Facts About Henry Liverseege

Henry Liverseege was an English genre painter of literary and folklore subjects.

Henry Liverseege was born in Manchester, the son of Edmund Liverseege, a joiner.

Henry Liverseege was a weakly child who suffered from asthma and following his death in 1832 it was discovered that one of his lungs had failed to develop.

Henry Liverseege had a spinal deformity which caused his left shoulder to be noticeably lower than the right.

Henry Liverseege was educated in a small Manchester school but did not progress to university.

Henry Liverseege showed an early interest in the arts, became involved in amateur theatricals for a while and demonstrated a talent for drawing.

Henry Liverseege had no formal artistic training and contemporary critics described his portraits as 'indifferent'.

Henry Liverseege painted a number of inn signs for Manchester hotels.

Around 1826, Henry Liverseege graduated from painting inn signs and portraits to specialising in genre paintings based on characters and scenes from literature and folklore.

Henry Liverseege was more successful that same year with his painting of 'Adam Woodcock' from Walter Scott's The Abbot which was purchased by Thomas Egerton, 2nd Earl of Wilton, of Heaton Hall.

Henry Liverseege now made a number of visits to London where he sketched from works in the Royal Academy and the British Museum.

Henry Liverseege attended some classes at a London art school.

Henry Liverseege applied to enter the Royal Academy as a student but was rejected on the technicality that he had failed to submit the required character references.

Henry Liverseege's career was now beginning to take off and his work was selling well for decent prices.

Henry Liverseege was the subject of several obituaries, some of which described him as 'The English Wilkie' comparing him with David Wilkie, the highly regarded Scottish painter.