Early Life and Apprenticeship William Kay Blacklock, a name synonymous with the gentle beauty of early 20th-century British painting, began his life in the industrial heartland of Bishop Wearmouth, Sunderland, in 1872. Born William Kilbride Blacklock to John Blacklock, an engine fitter and painter, and Isabella, his upbringing was steeped in a practical world far removed from the artistic circles he would later inhabit. The family’s modest circumstances were altered by the untimely death of John Blacklock in 1886, leaving young William to contribute to the household income. By the age of eig…