St John’s Wood clique

In the second half of the nineteenth century the St John’s Wood area of London became a popular location for artists, giving rise to the St John’s Wood Clique. They often also rented Hever Castle in Kent during the summer as an authentic background for their work.

The leader of the group was Philip Hermogenes Calderon together with Frederick Goodall, George Adolphus Storey and William Yeames. Their treatment of historical subject matter resulted in such strangely compelling works as Calderon’s St Elizabeth and Yeames’s Amy Robsart. Yeames also produced one of the most famous Victorian historical pictures, the Civil War subject, When Did You Last See Your Father, in Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool.