Austin Winterbottom. Source: Picture Sheffield.
Austin Winterbottom was born in Sheffield and was the son of Alexander Winterbottom, a bronzer of stove grates and fenders, and his wife Mary Ann.
Between 1874 and 1887, Winterbottom studied at Sheffield School of Art and was very successful there, winning prizes in painting, design and modelling from life. Primarily a painter of landscapes in water colour and oils, Winterbottom was particularly known for his paintings of snow and its fantastic effects which he studied whilst staying at the Old Hall, Wigtwizzle, on the Broomhead Moors. Winterbottom exhibited work at the Royal Academy from 1889 and at the Royal Society of British Artists from 1890. Whenever he exhibited, his pictures received most favourable criticism from the press and distinguished artists.
His obituary recalled
… his great and lovable personality, and his fine and poetic art.
A passionate lover of Nature in all its moods and phases – from the great, rolling clouds and expansive skies, to the smallest flower in the hedgerow – all commanded equally his enthusiasm. He would tell you of the effects he had seen, the sun turning things to gold, the dew jewelling the grass, and how he had failed to catch the glories he had seen. In his young days he would start early in the morning, and walk, say, to Burbage or elsewhere, paint all day, and return by moonlight.
From the tenderness of his heart, he was for 40 years a vegetarian, he could not bear to see anything hurt or killed, and no little fly rested on his canvas without being regarded with friendly interest as a creature living its own little life.
In this case there are no evil deeds to be buried with his bones, and his good deeds will forever live after him in the hearts of those who were privileged to know him
Sheffield Daily Telegraph, February 1919
Winterbottom was buried in plot H 36 in the Anglican area of the Cemetery.
You can read more about the artists in the Cemetery in the Sheffield General Cemetery Trust’s publication Canvas of Memories and follow the self-guided trail Artists of the Sheffield General Cemetery.