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Henry
Ryland was born in Bedfordshire, and was a pupil first
of Benjamin Constant, and later of Boulanger. He
exhibited at the RA from 1890, specialising in
watercolour paintings of classically dressed girls on
marble terraces in the style created by Alma Tadema. He
was also a notable illustrator, and designed for other
media, including stained glass windows.
Ryland's
paintings established him as the foremost of the
neoclassical painters working in watercolour. His
pictures are typically of high finish, in French
fashion, showing little hint of brushstroke, and he is
somewhat comparable to J. W. Godward in subject and
style. His subjects were generally developments of the
same theme. Typically two or three girls with soft
faces, short dark hair, little expression or action,
draped in graceful folds of cloth or rarely nude, are
shown relaxing on a marble terrace with birds, flowers
drawn with botanical exactitude, and the odd classical
vase. Some of his watercolours were widely reproduced as
prints, especially his ideal portraits of girls. However
engravings after Ryland's watercolours are sometimes
less than successful, as the softness of the faces
translates to weakness in the black and white line
version.
Ryland was of great merit
as a decorative illustrator. In particular, his woodcuts
used as headers and footers in the English
Illustrated Magazine in the 1880s and 1890s are
very good indeed, and along with those by Heywood Sumner
must rank among the best in this magazine. Ryland
designed the soft cover for The Quiver
magazine, and had an interest in the idea of the
decorated page as espoused by Walter Crane. He attracted
favorable comment for his line work from Joseph Pennell,
and also from Crane in his book Decorative
Illustration, where he noted Ryland's 'graceful
decorative feeling'.
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