William Rothenstein

Born in 1872 in Yorkshire, William Rothenstein was the son of a German mother and father who had come to England in the mid-nineteenth century. Following his studies at the Slade School of Art, whose then principal was the leading draughtsman Alphonse Legros, Rothenstein went to the Académie Julian in Paris. In pre-war France, Rothenstein made friends with many of the most progressive artists and writers of the day. However, like Hugh Lane, Rothenstein was wary of Post-Impressionism, considering the style to be less than serious. He was admired for his philosophical lectures on art and was an enthusiastic supporter of the sculptor Henry Moore despite the objections of others. Anti-German feeling during the First World War led members of Rothenstein’s family to change their name to Rutherston in 1916. Some in Rothenstein’s own village suspected him of being a German spy when they saw him making sketches of a railway bridge, and even as an Official War Artist close to the Front he was arrested on suspicion of spying. However, despite such pressure Rothenstein held out and retained his name. He was knighted for his services to art in 1931.

Jessica O'Donnell