Henry Stacy Marks Biography

Henry Stacy Marks RA (1829-1898) was a British artist who took a particular interest in Shakespearean and medieval themes in his early career and later in decorative art depicting birds and ornithologists as well as landscapes. Most of his early works were oils but he also worked on murals and with watercolours. He was a founding member of the St John's Wood Clique and was well known for his humorous performances.

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 to assist his father in his carriage-making business. In 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. 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. 

Mark's wife Helen died in 1892, and the following year Marks married Mary Harriet Kempe, who was also a painter. 

Marks considered the Royal Academy of Arts to be a clique and wrote about its politics as a parody ballad.

He published a two-volume autobiography towards the end of his life titled Pen and Pencil Sketches (1894).

Marks died on 9 January 1898 in his London home and was buried in Hampstead Cemetery. His estate amounted to a little over £9,600.