George Sheridan Knowles ( 1863 – 1931 )

The demand for pleasing genre scenes and depictions of bygone days was great at the height of the Victorian era and many artists sought to fill this need; one such artist was George Sheridan Knowles. Little is known about his early life but it is believed that he spent his youth in the Manchester area and most likely received his formal education there.

Knowles exhibited his earliest work in Manchester in 1883 and resided at 117 Moss Lane, West, Manchester. It is likely that Frederick J. Knowles (British landscape and figurative artist) was his brother and Juliet Knowles (Victorian still life artist) was his sister as they also gave the same address in Manchester when they began exhibiting their work in the 1880s.

Knowles was an academic artist and, like many of his contemporaries, he combined his formal academic training with the new style and colouring of the Impressionists to create his finished works. Although his paintings conform to the realistic depictions one would expect from an academic artist, his use of bright colours and rapid brushstrokes shows his interest in the more modern movements of the period. Using his artistic talents, Knowles specialized in contemporary sentimental genre scenes and costumes set in the Middle Ages or 18th century.

His sentimental genre paintings often capture his subjects in a relaxed or playful state and are reminiscent of the work of Arthur John Elsley and Frederick Morgan (two of his contemporaries). He often drew inspiration for his costume paintings from history and literature and was similar in style to the work of Edgar Bundy, Frank Moss Bennett and Arthur D. McCormick. By 1885, Knowles was living at 21 Howland Street in London and had begun to exhibit at all the major exhibition halls.

He exhibited his first work at the Royal Academy (RA) in 1885 and continued to exhibit there until 1919. Works exhibited included:

• The Companions (1889);
• The Tale (1892);
• The Wounded Knight (1895);
• The Love Letter (1900);
• Dolce far niente (1907),
• The Song of Love (1915)
• and The Old Gate (1919).

By the end of his life, he had exhibited over 30 works at the Royal Academy. Knowles was also a member of the Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours (RI), where he exhibited 108 works; The Royal Institute of Oil Painters (ROI), where he exhibited 91 works, and the Royal Cambrian Academy (RCA), where he exhibited 42 works.