Gavin Hamilton
Gavin Hamilton (* 1723 in Lanark , Lanarkshire , Scotland , † January 4, 1798 in Rome ) was a Scottish history and portrait painter , archaeologist and art dealer . As a painter, he is considered a pioneer of classicism , which he represented with a rather academic style of painting.
Life
He came from the Scottish aristocratic family of the Hamiltons from Murdieston (Lanarkshire). He first studied Greek at the University of Glasgow . From 1748 he studied and lived in Rome, where Agostino Masucci (1690–1768) was his teacher. In the years 1752 to 1754, however, he briefly returned to England and Scotland.
In Rome he was a member of the Academy of English Professors of the Liberal Arts . He was also welcomed together with Thomas Jenkins on February 2, 1761 at the Accademia di San Luca as Accademici di merito . His history paintings are considered to be the first of the emerging classicism . He painted portraits for the British aristocracy . He was also involved in the wall paintings in the Villa Borghese .
From 1764 to 1767 the Scottish painter and illustrator David Allan (1744–1796) was one of his students. Hamilton's circle of friends included u. a. Anton Raphael Mengs and Johann Joachim Winckelmann as well as the young Angelika Kauffmann .
In 1769, Hamilton took part in the archaeological excavations of the Villa Adriana of the Roman Emperor Hadrian and was also involved in excavations in parts of the Via Appia and in Ostia Antica . He is considered to be the most successful archaeological excavator of the second half of the century.
Hamilton is considered one of the most prominent among all artists and collectors in 18th century Europe. Although he had actually come to Rome to improve his talent as a painter and to expand his knowledge of antiquity , he soon found himself among the large number of British travelers who were visiting Italy on their fashionable Grand Tour to either buy a collection to build on works of art or antique finds or to expand their collection there. It was therefore fairly easy for Hamilton to start an art trade. In the course of time this trade became his most important occupation, with which he eventually made his name in the art world. He had contacts with the most famous art collectors. Today such famous works of art as Leonardo da Vinci's Rock Grotto Madonna ( National Gallery , London ), Domenico Tintoretto's The Adoration of the Shepherds ( Fitzwilliam Museum , Cambridge ) and Salvator Rosas Pythagoras ( Kimbell Art Museum , Fort Worth ) passed through his hands.
Publications
- as editor: Schola Italica Picturae , 41 copper engravings, Rome 1773
literature
- Ellis Waterhouse: The Dictionary of British 18th Century Painters in Oils and Crayons. 1981, p. 155.
- Bernd Curt Kreplin : Hamilton, Gavin . In: Ulrich Thieme , Fred. C. Willis (Ed.): General lexicon of visual artists from antiquity to the present . Founded by Ulrich Thieme and Felix Becker . tape 15 : Gresse – Hanselmann . EA Seemann, Leipzig 1922, p. 552–553 ( Text Archive - Internet Archive ).
- Brendan Cassidy: Gavin Hamilton (1723-1798). Artist, Antiquarian and Art Dealer in Eighteenth-Century Rome. Brepols Publications, 2011, ISBN 978-1-905375-59-2 .
- Julia Lloyd Williams: Gavin Hamilton 1723-1798. Scottish masters Volume 18, National Galleries of Scotland, 1994.
- David Irwin: Gavin Hamilton. Archaeologist, Painter, and Dealer. In: The Art Bulletin. Vol 49, College Art Association, 1962, pp. 87-102.
- Ulrike Müller Hofstede: Achill, Apoll and Niobe - the sublime in Gavin Hamilton's history pictures. Verlag Lit, 1993, ISBN 3-89473-552-X or ISBN 978-3-89473-552-4
- Georg Kaspar Nagler : New general artist lexicon. Volume 5, 1837, p. 539 ( books.google.de ).
- Johann Andreas Romberg, Friedrich Faber, Lorenz Clasen: Conversations Lexicon for Fine Art. 1853, p. 391 ( books.google.de ).
- Serena Q. Hutton: Gavin Hamilton. In: Nancy Thomson de Grummond : An Encyclopedia of the History of Classical Archeology. Volume 1, Chicago 1996, pp. 562-565
- Ian Chilvers: The Oxford dictionary of art. 2004, p. 326 ( books.google.de ).
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Robert Cumming: Art . In: Compact & Visual . Dorling Kindersley Verlag GmbH, Munich 2016, ISBN 978-3-8310-3137-5 , p. 241 .
- ^ The General Biographical Dictionary. 1814, p. 89 ( books.google.de ) - Murdieston House is not his place of birth, but the ancestral home of his family branch .
- ↑ Steffi Roettgen: Anton Raphael Mengs 1728–1779. Volume 1, Verlag Hirmer, 2003, ISBN 3-7774-7900-4 , p. 491.
- ↑ Hadrian's Villa . In: Meyers Konversations-Lexikon . 4th edition. Volume 7, Verlag des Bibliographisches Institut, Leipzig / Vienna 1885–1892, p. 996.
personal data | |
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SURNAME | Hamilton, Gavin |
BRIEF DESCRIPTION | British painter, archaeologist and art dealer |
DATE OF BIRTH | 1723 |
PLACE OF BIRTH | Murdieston House, Lanarkshire , Scotland |
DATE OF DEATH | January 4, 1798 |
Place of death | Rome |