Henry Tanworth Wells Research Associate was an English miniature and portrait painter.
Background
Wells was born in London on 14 December 1828, the only son of Henry Tanworth Wells (senior), a merchant, and his wife Charlotte Henman. He pursued her, and they were engaged, but after her father"s death, her mother persuaded her to change her mind, and Joanna gave the engagement ring back.
Education
He was educated at Lancing College, Sussex.
Career
His most popular painting was Victoria Regina, showing the young princess Victoria hearing the news that she was to accede to the throne. He was baptised in Street Pancras Old Church. They lived in Percy Street, Street Pancras from 1838 to 1854.
Wells first met the artist Joanna Mary Boyce in Betws-y-Coed in north Wales in 1849, where she was studying under painter David Cox.
He arranged to be introduced to Boyce in 1851, and asked her to marry him in 1855. She refused, saying she wanted to be free to "carry on her life"s work".
Wells still did not give up, and despite social disapproval they continued to write to each other. They had two daughters, Alice Joanna Street and Joanna Margaret Hadley.
Wells was trained as an artist in his teens, first being apprenticed to Messrs Dickinson as a draughtsman for lithographs in 1843 (aged 15), changing to miniature painting for the same firm.
While working, he studied at J.M. Leigh"s school during the evenings. He began to exhibit his work at the Royal Academy when he was only 18. In 1850 he went to Paris for six months to learn from the portrait painter Thomas Couture.
When photography took over most of the market for miniature images, in 1861 Wells switched to painting portraits in oils, becoming known as the painter to choose for military groups.
He also executed crayon portraits of individuals in society and politics. His popular painting Victoria Regina, which depicts Victoria as a princess hearing that she was to become queen, was widely reproduced in prints and postcards during her reign.
lieutenant exists in two versions: one exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1880 (now in the Tate Gallery) and a smaller one, with a different background, painted in 1887 and later presented to Edward VII (Royal Collection). He died at his home, Thorpe Lodge, on Campden Hill in Kensington on 16 January 1903 and was buried in Kensal Green cemetery.
Wells"s works can be found in the major art collections of England:
British Museum
National Portrait Gallery
Tate Gallery
Royal Academy
Royal Collection
Government Art Collection
National Trust Collections.
Membership
He was a member of the Pre-Raphaelite circle though he painted in the academic style. Wells was elected as a member of the Royal Academy on 30 June 1870.