William Dobson
William Dobson (4 March 1611 (baptised);
Biography
Dobson was born in London, the son of a lawyer also called William Dobson. He was
Little is known of Dobson's career in the 1630s, but when Van Dyck died in 1641, the opportunity arose for him to gain royal commissions from King Charles. He is said to have become
Works
Around sixty of Dobson's works survive, mostly half-length portraits dating from 1642 or later. The thick impasto of his early work gave way to a mere skim of paint, perhaps reflecting a wartime scarcity of materials. After Oxford fell to the Parliamentarians, in June 1646, Dobson returned to London. Now without patronage, he was briefly imprisoned for debt and died in poverty at the age of thirty-five.
Ellis Waterhouse described Dobson as "the most distinguished purely British painter before Hogarth",[9] and in the view of Waldemar Januszczak he was "the first British born genius, the first truly dazzling English painter".[10]
There are examples of Dobson's work at the
The 2011 anniversary of his birth was marked by exhibitions, a 'Dobson Trail' listing his paintings on a website, and a BBC television profile by Januszczak, The Lost Genius of British Art: William Dobson.[11]
Personal life
He was married twice, first to Elizabeth, whose surname is unknown, as is the date of their marriage. She was buried in St Martin-in-the-Fields on 26 September 1634. On 18 December 1637 he married Judith Sander, who survived him.[2]
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Charles II when Prince of Wales, c. 1642 or 1643.
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Abraham van der Doort, c. 1640
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Richard Neville, n.d.
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Edward Hyde, Earl of Clarendon, c. 1643
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Sir Richard Fanshawe, 1st Baronet, 1644
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Sir Edward Dering, 1st Baronet, c. 1642
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Nicholas Oudart, n.d.
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Sir Thomas Aylesbury, n.d.
References
- ^ London Metropolitan Archives, St Andrew Holborn, Register of baptisms, 1558 - 1623, P82/AND2/A/001/MS06667, Item 001
- ^ a b c Katherine Gibson, William Dobson, Oxford Online Dictionary of National Biography, 2004
- ^ National Portrait Gallery - William Dobson
- ^ Biography used for television series. Retrieved 10 May 2021.
- ^ Jones, "The King's Painter", p27
- ^ Waldemar Januszczak (Summer 2016). "The Full English". Bonhams Magazine (47): 29.
- ^ Jones, "The King's Painter", p16.
- ^ "William Dobson Portrait of the Artist's Wife c.1635–40". Tate Gallery. Retrieved 2 February 2015.
- ^ E. K. Waterhouse, Painting in Britain 1530–1790, 5th edn, New Haven and London 1994, p.80, quoted in United Kingdom Tate Gallery — William Dobson 1611–1646, Portrait of the Artist's Wife circa 1635–1640.
- ^ Waldemar Januszczak in part three of his BBC documentary series, Baroque! From St Peter's to St Paul's; and 'The first great British painter?' in Tate, 17, Spring 1999, p.62.
- ^ William Dobson 1611–1646.
Further reading
- R. F. Jones, William Dobson: The King's Painter, Tyger's Head Books, 2016
- Malcolm Rogers, William Dobson, 1611–46, 1983, National Portrait GalleryExhibition Catalogue, ISBN 0904017532
- John Aubrey, Brief Lives.
- Waldemar Januszczak, The first great British painter?, Tate, 17, Spring 1999, p. 62.
External links
- Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). . Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
- United Kingdom National Portrait Gallery — William Dobson
- Tate Collection — William Dobson
- William Dobson 1611-1646, Biography, Paintings, Dobson Art Trail
- 59 artworks by or after William Dobson at the Art UK site