Isaac Whood facts for kids
Isaac Whood (born 1689, died 1752) was a talented English artist. He was famous for painting portraits of people. Many thought he was great at copying the painting style of another well-known artist, Godfrey Kneller.
Isaac Whood's Life as an Artist
Isaac Whood worked as a portrait painter for many years. His art studio was in Lincoln's Inn Fields in London. People especially liked his paintings of women. They were considered some of the best at that time.
A very important person, John Russell, 4th Duke of Bedford, was one of Whood's biggest supporters. The Duke asked Whood to paint many portraits for his home, Woburn Abbey. These paintings included members of the Spencer and Russell families. Sometimes, Whood even copied paintings by other artists for the Duke.
You can find Whood's portraits in other places too. At Winchester College, there are twelve portraits he painted in 1731. These show young gentlemen who attended the school. At Trinity College and Trinity Hall in Cambridge, you can see more of his work. One famous portrait there is of Isaac Barrow. In 1736, Whood painted a portrait of Archbishop William Wake which is now at Lambeth Palace.
Some of Whood's portraits were made into prints using a special method called mezzotint. One example is his portrait of the sculptor Laurent Delvaux, which was engraved by Alexander Van Haecken. Whood also made drawings using chalk or a black lead pencil. In 1743, he created a series of drawings to illustrate a book called Hudibras by Samuel Butler. A portrait of Joseph Spence that appeared in his book Anecdotes was also made from a painting by Whood.
Whood's Final Years
Isaac Whood passed away in Bloomsbury Square, London, on February 24, 1752.
