DOI Heft:
No. 48 (March, 1897)
DOI Artikel:Cust, Lionel: Some portraits of British artists at the National Portrait Gallery, London
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.18388#0101
Portraits of British A rtists
The same wall also holds portraits by themselves strongly-marked, characteristic face, found it useful
of Sir William Beechey, the portrait-painter at for his experiments in pigments. Here he shows
Court, and John Jackson, R.A., both excellent himself in a green coat, not so vivid as that of
portrait-painters, who, like Zoffany, are now begin- Wright, with curling brown hair, and he gazes
ningtocome to the front in popular estimation. In round as if proud to think that there are ten por-
the same corner is a good crayon by himself of John traits of his painting in this Gallery, and that some,
Raphael Smith, the famous draughtsman, pastel- such as those of his wife and Mrs. Delany, are
list, and mezzotint engraver. Crossing the Gallery amongst the best-painted in this collection,
the visitor will find a good portrait of John Opie, Close together hang a youthful portrait of
"the Cornish Wonder," painted by himself in George Morland, before debt and drink had
17S5, when he was 24 years of age. Perhaps no ruined his honest features, and a double portrait
painter has left so many portraits of himself as Opie. of John Henry Mortimer, drawing at a frame with
Over twenty are catalogued by his biographer, J. an assistant by him. Mortimer was one of those
J. Rogers. It is probable that Opie, having a painters whose early promise seemed to masquerade
as genius. His premature
death saved him from the
neglect which is often the lot
of a youthful prodigy in later
life. A similar portrait of
Mortimer is in the possession
of the Royal Academy, in
which the portrait of Joseph
Wilton, the sculptor and
Keeper of the Royal Aca-
demy, is introduced, looking
over Mortimer's shoulder at
the drawing on which he is
engaged.
Leaving the Gallery in
which the last-named portraits
are exhibited, another collec-
tion of artists' portraits will be
found in Room XIX. Among
these are autograph portraits
of Ann Mary Newton, daughter
of Joseph Severn, the painter
and friend of Keats, and wife
of Charles T. Newton, the
archaeologist, a tender study
in blue of the delicate, refined
face of George Chinnery, who
is best known by the drawings
and paintings done during his
residence in China and Macao,
of which latter place appa-
rently a view hangs over the
chimney-piece behind his
head; of James Ward, the
animal painter, a downright
old Englishman, in a spotted
dressing-gown; and a small,
painful sketch of the ill-starred
Haydon. A portrait of Sir
sir n. wiLKiE from the portrait by himself Thomas Lawrence, P.R.A., by
97
The same wall also holds portraits by themselves strongly-marked, characteristic face, found it useful
of Sir William Beechey, the portrait-painter at for his experiments in pigments. Here he shows
Court, and John Jackson, R.A., both excellent himself in a green coat, not so vivid as that of
portrait-painters, who, like Zoffany, are now begin- Wright, with curling brown hair, and he gazes
ningtocome to the front in popular estimation. In round as if proud to think that there are ten por-
the same corner is a good crayon by himself of John traits of his painting in this Gallery, and that some,
Raphael Smith, the famous draughtsman, pastel- such as those of his wife and Mrs. Delany, are
list, and mezzotint engraver. Crossing the Gallery amongst the best-painted in this collection,
the visitor will find a good portrait of John Opie, Close together hang a youthful portrait of
"the Cornish Wonder," painted by himself in George Morland, before debt and drink had
17S5, when he was 24 years of age. Perhaps no ruined his honest features, and a double portrait
painter has left so many portraits of himself as Opie. of John Henry Mortimer, drawing at a frame with
Over twenty are catalogued by his biographer, J. an assistant by him. Mortimer was one of those
J. Rogers. It is probable that Opie, having a painters whose early promise seemed to masquerade
as genius. His premature
death saved him from the
neglect which is often the lot
of a youthful prodigy in later
life. A similar portrait of
Mortimer is in the possession
of the Royal Academy, in
which the portrait of Joseph
Wilton, the sculptor and
Keeper of the Royal Aca-
demy, is introduced, looking
over Mortimer's shoulder at
the drawing on which he is
engaged.
Leaving the Gallery in
which the last-named portraits
are exhibited, another collec-
tion of artists' portraits will be
found in Room XIX. Among
these are autograph portraits
of Ann Mary Newton, daughter
of Joseph Severn, the painter
and friend of Keats, and wife
of Charles T. Newton, the
archaeologist, a tender study
in blue of the delicate, refined
face of George Chinnery, who
is best known by the drawings
and paintings done during his
residence in China and Macao,
of which latter place appa-
rently a view hangs over the
chimney-piece behind his
head; of James Ward, the
animal painter, a downright
old Englishman, in a spotted
dressing-gown; and a small,
painful sketch of the ill-starred
Haydon. A portrait of Sir
sir n. wiLKiE from the portrait by himself Thomas Lawrence, P.R.A., by
97