David Wilkie Wynfield (1837-1887), Painter and photographer

Later Victorian Portraits Catalogue

Sitter in 2 portraits
Artist associated with 34 portraits
Wynfield studied at Leigh's art school in the 1850s and had his first painting accepted at the Royal Academy exhibition of 1859. The paintings that he produced in the 1860s were often set in medieval or Renaissance times and frequently dealt with the tragic consequences of love. In the mid 1860s Wynfield produced a number of distinctive bust portraits of artists in fancy dress. The combination of soft focus, close-up, large-format print and historical costume produced a photographic idiom that was completely novel at the time. Some of these were published as The Studio: A Collection of Photographic Portraits of Living Artists, Taken in the Style of Old Masters, by an Amateur.