(b Liverpool, 8 July 1822; d London, 9 Oct 1907). English painter. He trained in Liverpool, chiefly under a local portrait painter, William Daniels (1813-80), and at the Liverpool Academy, where he exhibited from 1845 and was an active member from 1848. He first painted figure compositions of historical themes and subjects taken from Shakespeare and Scott, modelled stylistically on William Etty and using bitumen for romantic light effects. An example is the compelling Anne Askew in Prison (1849; Liverpool, Walker A.G.). At the suggestion of his patron John Miller, in 1850 Windus visited London, where he saw Millais's controversial Christ in the Carpenter's Shop (London, Tate) at the Royal Academy. He became the leader of a small group of sympathetic artists at the Liverpool Academy, including William Davis, who emulated the style of the Pre-Raphaelites. During the 1850s they awarded a

See the Abbreviations for further details.

The Concise Grove Dictionary of Art. Copyright © 2002 by Oxford University Press, Inc.. All rights reserved.