Daniel Gardner

Daniel Gardner, self-portrait painted in oil (around 1780).

Daniel Gardner (* 1750 in Kendal ; † July 8, 1805 in London ) was a British painter who was best known for his portraiture .

Education and career

Lady Jane Maxwell , married Duchess of Gordon, in a green riding costume. Painted in oil by Daniel Gardner (around 1780). The influence of Joshua Reynolds' late work can be seen.

Daniel Gardner was a student of George Romney . Gardner always said he hadn't really learned much from Romney. Around 1767 Gardner moved to London, where he enrolled at the Royal Academy of Arts in 1770 . There he was a student of Johann Zoffany , Nathaniel Dance-Holland (1735-1811), Benjamin West , Giovanni Battista Cipriani (1727-1785) and Francesco Bartolozzi . In 1771 Gardner won a silver medal at the Royal Academy of Arts. In the same year he exhibited a portrait of an old man at the academy. However, Gardner did not take part in the important London art exhibitions. Around 1773 he was working in Joshua Reynolds' studio . Reynolds' late work had a visible influence on Gardner, especially in terms of posture and composition .

Gardner had soon made a name for himself as a portraitist and was making good money , so in 1787 he was able to buy a stately home in Kendal . Gardner portrayed some of the most colorful personalities of his day, including Jane Gordon, Duchess of Gordon , Georgiana Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire , Charles Cornwallis, 1st Marquess Cornwallis and Lord George Gordon .

Gardner was best known for his pastel painting . In the last quarter of the 18th century, however, he increasingly used a painting mixing technique that included oil , gouache and pastel colors. This technique was also adopted by painters such as Peter Romney , John Downman (1750–1824) and John James Masquerier (1778–1855). Gardner painted larger portraits entirely in oils. These are rare and are rarely offered on the art market.

Gardner seldom signed his works, which meant that later, especially in the 19th century, his pictures were often attributed to other painter colleagues better known to the general public such as Joshua Reynolds or Thomas Gainsborough . This is not surprising, however, when you consider that Gardner had worked with both Joshua Reynolds and Thomas Gainsborough.

Samuel Redgrave (1802–1876), British civil servant and author of texts and books on subjects of art, wrote of Daniel Gardner:

"He had a nice perception of beauty and character, and composed with elegance."

- Samuel Redgrave: A Dictionary of Artists of the English School: Painters, Sculptors, Architects, Engravers and Ornamentists: With notices of their lives and work. George Bell and sons, London, York Street, Covent Garden 1878, p. 167.

And the British poet William Hayley (1745–1820) wrote in his Essay on Painting, Epistle II:

Let candid Justice our attention lead
To the soft crayon of the graceful Read;
Nor, Gardner, shall the Muse, in haste, forget
Thy Taste and Ease; tho 'with a fond regret
She pays, while here the Crayon's pow'r she notes
A sigh of homage to the Shade of Coates.

The president of the Royal Cambrian Academy of Art in Conwy , Sir Cuthbert C. Grundy (1846-1946), who founded the Grundy Art Gallery in Blackpool together with his brother John RG Grundy († 1915) , considered Daniel Gardner to be the most successful English pastel painter 18th century. According to Sir Cuthbert C. Grundy, Gardner surpassed Joshua Reynolds in terms of free imagery and spontaneity as well as John Downman (1750–1824) in achieving finer and richer colors.

Many of the portraits created by Gardner were engraved in copper, including by the engraver Thomas Watson (1743–1781), or reproduced using mezzotint . This should have been financially much more lucrative for Gardner than making the original.

family

George Montague-Dunk, 2nd Earl of Halifax, (1716–1772) in conversation with his secretaries. From left to right: Edward Sedgwick, Lovell Stanhope († 1783) and the 2nd Earl of Halifax, which the Order of the Garter on the left breast of his frock coat wearing and the corresponding garter below the left knee. The city of Halifax was named after the 2nd Earl of Halifax in 1749. Painted in gouache by Daniel Gardner (around 1767).

Daniel Gardner married Miss Haward, sister of the engraver Francis Haward , on October 8, 1776 . Miss Hawards first name was either Ann or Nancy. Gardner and his wife had two sons, only the older son George (born 1778) survived. Gardner's wife died soon after the birth of their second son in 1781, which Gardner never overcame.

According to a report in Gentleman's Magazine , Gardner died on July 8, 1805 of liver failure in London. The European Magazine and London Review also reported Gardner's death. Under the heading Monthly Obituary it says: Mr. Daniel Gardner, of Warwick-street, Golden-square, formerly an artist.

character

Daniel Gardner was considered an eccentric . So it happened that he asked the people who wanted to be portrayed by him to come to his studio at 5 a.m. In the studio itself he did not tolerate anyone other than those to be portrayed. He also never showed his portraits before they were completed. In his studio he had a special easel with lockable flaps, where he could keep the unfinished portraits under lock and key from prying eyes.

Gardner dealt very little with his fellow painters, who considered him strange and stingy. He was only friends with John Constable , whom he portrayed in 1796.

Exhibitions (posthumously)

• Daniel Gardner, 12 pastels from the collection of Lady Strachey, Cottier Gallery, New York, 1913

• Daniel Gardner, Abbot Hall Art Gallery, Kendal, 1962

• Daniel Gardner, 1750-1805, Kenwood House , London, 1972

Museums

Works by Daniel Gardner are in the collections of Abbot Hall Art Gallery in Kendal, National Portrait Gallery in London, Tate Britain and Montacute House .

literature

• George Charles Williamson: Daniel Gardner, painter in pastel and gouache: A brief account of his life and works. John Lane, the bodley head, Vigo St., W, London 1921.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h} Neil Jeffares: Dictionary of pastellists before 1800 - Gardner, Daniel. 2012.
2. ↑ ^{a b c} Samuel Redgrave: A Dictionary of Artists of the English School: Painters, Sculptors, Architects, Engravers and Ornamentists: With notices of their lives and work. George Bell and sons, London, York Street, Covent Garden 1878, p. 167.
3. ^ ^{A b c} The New York Times: The World of Art: Daniel Gardner, 31st July 1921.
4. ↑ George Charles Williamson: Daniel Gardner, painter in pastel and gouache: A brief account of his life and works. John Lane, the bodley head, Vigo St., W, London 1921, p. 7th
5. ↑ George Charles Williamson: Daniel Gardner, painter in pastel and gouache: A brief account of his life and works. John Lane, the bodley head, Vigo St., W, London 1921, p. 18th
6. ^ Philological Society of London: The European Magazine and London Review. Published by James Asperne, Successor to the late Mr Sewell at the Bible, Crown & Constitution Cornhill, Vol. 48, from July to Dec., 1805, Monthly Obituary, p. 79.
7. ^ The Victoria and Albert Museum, London.