Francis Hayman

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A portrait of Francis Hayman made by Sir Joshua Reynolds .

Francis Hayman RA (* 1708 in Exeter , † February 2, 1776 in London ) was an English painter and illustrator . He is one of the founding members of the Royal Academy of Arts , London.

Life

Hayman was born in Exeter, the son of John Hayman and Jane Browne, apprenticed to his uncle, the history painter Robert Browne, from 1718 and, after completing his training in the 1730s, initially worked as a stage painter at Goodman's Fields Theater and Drury Lane Theater in London, but then became a teacher of painting at St. Martin's Lane Academy, run by his friend William Hogarth . His students there included Mason Chamberlin , Nathaniel Dance-Holland , Thomas Seton and Lemuel Francis Abbott . He also had a not inconsiderable influence on the painting of Thomas Gainsborough .

plant

Influenced by the French Rococo, Hayman and some artist friends painted over 50 pictures for the "Supper Boxes" of the English amusement park Vauxhall Gardens , which were completed in 1742. In addition, the artist established himself as a passable portraitist and history painter. In 1746 he took part in the decoration of the London Foundling Hospital with religious paintings. He also worked with his friend, the landscape painter George Lambert .

  • Dancing milkmaids , around 1735, oil on canvas, 137 × 234 cm ( Victoria and Albert Museum )

  • Portrait of a Group of Gentleman, with the Artist , between 1740 and 1745, oil on canvas, 111.8 x 142.2 cm (Yale Center for British Art)

  • Robert Clive and Mir Jafar after the Battle of Plassey, 1757 , c. 1760, oil on canvas, 100.3 x 127 cm ( National Portrait Gallery )

As a book illustrator, Hayman designed 31 pictures for the Shakespeare edition by Sir Thomas Hanmer , published in 1744 . He also illustrated the novel Pamela by Samuel Richardson in 1742 , John Milton's Paradise Lost in 1749 and a Don Quixote translation by Tobias Smollett in 1755 . He also portrayed some famous Shakespeare mimes, including David Garrick as Richard III in 1760 .

In the 1760s, Jonathan Tyers , the operator of Vauxhall Gardens, commissioned him to paint history pictures of the glorious British victories during the Seven Years' War.

various

Hayman was friends for many years with his artist colleagues William Hogarth and Hubert-François Gravelot, as well as with the actor David Garrick , with whom he, who was known for his dissolute life, often toured through the London bar scene. In 1752 he married Susanna Fleetwood, the widow of a deceased friend. In 1759 Hayman was involved in the founding of the London Society of Artists , a forerunner of the Royal Academy of Arts founded by Joshua Reynolds in 1768 , whose honorary librarian Hayman becomes in 1770. In the last years of his life, the artist was mainly plagued by gout.

literature

  • Sidney Lee:  Hayman, Francis . In: Leslie Stephen, Sidney Lee (Eds.): Dictionary of National Biography . Volume 25:  Harris - Henry I. , MacMillan & Co, Smith, Elder & Co., New York City / London 1891, pp. 296 - 297 (English).
  • Brian Allen: Francis Hayman. Yale University Press, New Haven, London 1987.

Web links

Commons : Francis Hayman  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ WM Merchant: Francis Hayman's Illustrations of Shakespeare. In: Shakespeare Quarterly , Vol. 9, No. 2, 1958, ISSN  0037-3222 , pp. 141-147. (Online: JSTOR Stable URL ) (accessed May 22, 2013).
  2. ^ Marcia Allentuck: Sir Thomas Hanmer Instructs Francis Hayman: An Editor's Notes to his Illustrator (1744). In: Shakespeare Quarterly , Vol. 27, No. 3, 1976, ISSN  0037-3222 , pp. 288-315. (Online: JSTOR Stable URL ) (accessed May 22, 2013).
personal data
SURNAME Hayman, Francis
BRIEF DESCRIPTION English painter and illustrator
DATE OF BIRTH 1708
PLACE OF BIRTH Exeter
DATE OF DEATH February 2, 1776
Place of death London