Christopher Wood's biography William Powell Frith, A Painter and his World, published by Sutton Publishing, is now available – for more details, see http://www.christopherwoodgallery.com/pages/books.cfm

William Powell Frith, painter of Derby Day and The Railway Station, was one of the most popular and successful Victorian artists. His career spanned the entire Victorian age, he was close friends of Dickens and his work was praised by Turner. A vivid and compelling picture of this reluctant artist and his times – this is the first biography of Frith in many years, drawing on the artist’s memoirs, papers and other contemporary records. Often regarded as the inventor of the modern life picture, Frith is revealed to be a born storyteller and an acute observer of his world, while his own domestic life was complicated in a typically Victorian way – he had a wife, a mistress and nineteen children. In life, as in art, Frith clearly liked crowds.

To listen to an Art Renewal Audio podcast interview with Christopher Wood, visit the Art Renewal Audio website.