Henry Stacy Marks

Marks was the fourth child of John Isaac Marks and Elizabeth (née Pally). His father was a solicitor who later became a coach builder. One of his brothers was the writer John George Marks. Henry studied in small schools near Regent's Park and at Eythorne, Kent where he learned to paint heraldry symbols so as to assist his father in his carriage making business. In 1845 he worked for a friend of his father as a clerk in a warehouse. He later went to work with his father and around 1846 he attended evening classes at James Mathews Leigh's art school where he would become a friend of Frederick Walker (Marks' younger brother later married Walker's twin sister). For some time he worked for magazines like Home Circle producing wood-cut illustrations. After being rejected once, Henry enrolled successfully at the Royal Academy Schools in December 1851. In 1852 his father sold off the carriage-making business leaving Henry free to attend classes. He however decided to move to Paris with his friend Philip Hermogenes Calderon to study at the atelier of François-Edouard Picot and the École des Beaux-Arts. He returned in June 1852, leaving Calderon in Paris and first exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1853, painting a scene from Shakespeare's Much Ado about Nothing: Dogberry Examining Conrad and Borachio. His works during the 1850s and 1860s were predominantly based on Shakespeare's plays and depicted medieval scenes. Marks' father emigrated to Australia leaving Henry to support his mother, three brothers and from October 1856, his wife, Helen Drysdale (1829–1892). He supplemented his income from painting by carrying out decorative work for various patrons. These included the Minton works, for the stained-glass manufacturers Clayton and Bell, by designing a frieze for the outside wall of the Royal Albert Hall, and for the house of the artist Lawrence Alma-Tadema. His early works on medieval themes included Toothache in the Middle Ages (1856) which was bought by the publisher Charles Edward Mudie with whom he became a friend. Marks' most important patron was Hugh Grosvenor, 1st Duke of Westminster. He was briefly an art critic for The Spectator, writing under the pen-name of "dry-point". Marks worked on decorations for the house of the Duke of Westminster at Eaton Hall, Cheshire, between 1874 and 1880. For this purpose he painted two canvasses 35 feet (11 m) long of Chaucer's pilgrims in the saloon, and twelve panels of birds in the drawing room.

Marks was a founding member of the St John's Wood Clique in 1862 along with Calderon. The aim of the clique was to improve each other by critique and the motto framed by Calderon was "the better each man's picture, the better for all." Marks was also an entertainer in the group with his fake sermons and songs. He was much loved in the club and was known as "Marco". He is shown in a cartoon A vision of the clique by Frederick Walker. Marks was a good friend of several of the cartoonists of Punch including John Tenniel and Charles Keene. In 1888 the Fine Art Society planned an exhibition on birds and Marks decided to use this opportunity to take up an intensive study of birds and he became a regular visitor at the zoo. In 1890 he had a private exhibition on his bird works. As his career progressed, he became increasingly interested in painting birds. Possibly his most famous painting is A Select Committee (1891) which is now in the Walker Art Gallery. He was elected as a member of the Royal Academy following h