Julius Caesar Ibbetson
Julius C. Ibbetson | |
---|---|
Born | 29 December 1759 |
Died | 13 October 1817 |
Julius Caesar Ibbetson (29 December 1759 – 13 October 1817) was a British 18th-century
Early life and education
Ibbetson was born at
Exhibitions and career
Early work
In 1785, Ibbetson began exhibiting at the
Later work
In 1789, Ibbetson visited the Viscount Mountstuart at Cardiff Castle in Wales. He spent decades drawing the scenery there and, according to Mitchell, "[h]is detailed watercolours of iron furnaces, coal staithes, and copper mines foreshadow the work of Joseph Wright of Derby and J. M. W. Turner and constitute an important record of the early industrial developments in that region, but are less well known than his more numerous scenes of folk life and picturesque scenery."[1] After a visit to the Isle of Wight in 1790, he began painting shipwrecks and smugglers. David Murray, 2nd Earl of Mansfield, and his wife commissioned Ibbetson to decorate Kenwood House, in 1794. This distracted him from the death of his wife and caring for their three children. Her death had "provoked a minor nervous breakdown, exacerbated by near destitution", but the Kenwood project relieved that stress.[1] Four years later, he moved to Liverpool to work for Thomas Vernon. In 1801 he married his second wife, Bella Thompson in Grasmere, Westmorland. They settled in Ambleside and became friendly with the Lake Poets including William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge who became godfather to their daughter Caroline Bella Ibbetson. There are paintings by Ibbetson at Dove Cottage, Grasmere.
Ibbetson acquired several generous patrons in Liverpool and in
Death and legacy
Ibbetson died on 13 October 1817 and was buried in the churchyard of St Mary's, Masham.
Benjamin West described Ibbetson as the "Berchem of England" in recognition of his debt to the Dutch 17th century landscape painters. According to Mitchell, "[h]is watercolours are prized for their delicacy and sureness of line."[1] Many were engraved for projects such as John Church's A Cabinet of Quadrupeds and John Boydell's Shakespeare Gallery.[1] Samuel Haslem Scott described him as "a portly, jovial person."[3]
Selected gallery
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George Biggins' Ascent in Lunardi' Balloon (1785), Neue Pinakothek
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A beached collier unloading into carts (1790), Royal Museums Greenwich
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Phaëton in a Thunderstorm (1798), Leeds Art Gallery
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View of Skiddaw from the Head of Derwentwater (1798), Museum of the Shenandoah Valley
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Sailors Carousing (1802), National Maritime Museum
References
Notes
Bibliography Mitchell, James 'Julius Caesar Ibbetson 1759-1817', John Mitchell & Son, London 1999;
- Mitchell, James. "Julius Caesar Ibbetson". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press. 2004. Retrieved on 7 February 2008.