St John’s Wood clique

The St John's Wood Clique was a loose association of British painters who lived in the St John's Wood district of London in the 1860s to 1880s and sought to renew the approach to historical and genre painting. The group included Philip Hermogenes Calderon, George Dunlop Leslie, William Frederick Yeames, David Wynfield, John Evan Hodgson, Henry Stacy Marks and George Adolphus Storey. The name "clique" was used half-jokingly and emphasised the friendly, convivial relations within the circle. The artists gathered regularly to work together, socialise and offer mutual criticism, even holding ironic "competitions" on set themes. In their work they moved away from dry academicism, giving historical and literary subjects greater psychological liveliness, everyday detail and narrative appeal aimed at a broad Victorian public. The most famous painting associated with the group is Yeames's And When Did You Last See Your Father?, which depicts a scene from the English Civil War. Although the clique left no shared manifesto and did not form a distinct style, it is an interesting example of the informal artistic communities of Victorian London.