Henry Clarence Whaite. Henry Clarence Whaite often referred to as Clarence Whaite was an English artist best known for his landscape paintings of Wales.
Having spent the earlier part of career based in his native Manchester, he later settled near Conwy in North Wales. He was an early member of the Manchester Academy of Fine Arts, and a leading figure in the formation of the Royal Cambrian Academy of Art.
Whaite was born in Manchester in 1828. His father, Henry, owned an art gallery and picture framing business, which also supplied painted banners for rallies and meetings.
Whaite was educated at Manchester Grammar School before matriculating to the Manchester School of Design. He later moved to London to complete his education, studying at Leigh's School in Newman Street and at the Royal Academy in Somerset House.
He visited Switzerland in 1850, and inspired by the mountain scenery planned to return the following year, but this proved impracticable. Unable to return to Switzerland, he looked for mountain scenery nearer home, and in 1851 made his first visit to Betws-y-Coed, a village in the Conwy Valley in North Wales which had already become a favourite destination for artists. The landscape of the area was to become the main subject of his work for the rest of his life. For the next twenty years, however, he remained based in Manchester, living in Stretford and becoming a member of the newly establi