John Atkinson Grimshaw was born in Leeds in 1836. His parents were strict baptists, his mother proved to be most disapproving of his artwork and on one occasion destroyed all of his paintings.
He became a full time painter in 1861, selling his work to a couple of art galleries, smaller picture dealers and bookshops in his home town.
By 1870, he was successful enough to rent Knostrop Old Hall, a 17th century mansion near Temple Newsam, which features in many of his pictures. Later in the 70s, he built a house near Scarborough, and in the 80s rented a studio in Chelsea. Grimshaw painted mostly for private patrons, and exhibited only 5 works at the Royal Academy between 1874 and 1886, and one at the Grosvenor Gallery.
Until the early 1870s Grimshaw's paintings were predominantly still lifes with a few landscapes of the Leeds area. However, he gradually became interested in painting night scenes. This included "Liverpool from Wapping" (1875), "Nightfall down the Thames" (1880), "Shipping on the Clyde" (1881), "Park Row, Leeds" (1882), "The Thames by Moonlight" (1884), "Liverpool Quay by Moonlight" (1887) and "Prince's Dock, Hull" (1887). These paintings often included the smoke pollution and damp fogs that were common in industrial cities in the late 19th century.
Although his moonlit town views are his most popular works, he also painted landscapes, portraits, interiors, fairy pictures and neo-classical subjects. During his early period he signed "J.A. Grimshaw" but c.1867 dropped the John, and signed himself Atkinson Grimshaw. He usually signed his pictures on the front and the reverse, inscribed with the title. Two of his sons, Arthur and Louis, were also painters and both followed his style.
