All posts tagged Dobson

Creases and Crinkles

I’m very fortunate that I live within driving distance of Oxford, and can visit the Ashmolean whenever I like. Last week I was there on a birthday trip to see the latest Pompeii exhibition (highly recommended!), and I never leave without saying hello to Prince Rupert in the museum’s spectacular Dobson triple portrait, acquired a few years ago through the Acceptance in Lieu scheme (see earlier post here).

I always try to study a different part of the painting, and what stood out for me this time were the tablecoths at the centre of the canvas.

Dobson tablecloth2

The creases of the white cloth are so expertly painted, you could almost pick it up and fold it back into exactly the shape it was in before someone – perhaps one of the men? A housekeeper? – shook it out and laid it gently over the brown cloth beneath. I can even imagine the inevitable wine stains spoiling the pristine cloth, after the men have finished their toasts.

I love this period’s silks and draperies. For me, the 17th century was the real high point for the artistic skill of painting gowns, sleeves, sashes and, yes, tablecloths! In 1600s art we are spoiled for choice. Think of Lely’s famed ladies, clad in yards of rustling silks with their perfectly rendered creases and folds. You can almost hear the sitter standing up and shaking out her skirts, smoothing down the silk and swishing her way out of the room.

Catherine Braganza Lely
Catherine of Braganza, c.1663-1665, ©Royal Collection

Van Dyck, too, was superb at rendering cloths and rich materials on the canvas. Not only were the silks beautifully painted, so were the lace, ribbons and gauzy shawls of his wealthy sitters.

Frances Countess of Dorset 1637
Frances, Lady Buckhurst, later Countess of Dorset, c. 1637, ©Knole

And It wasn’t only the women who received this elegant treatment. Men, too, pose in glamorous slashed doublets, silk shirts, shiny cloaks and soft leather boots.

Stuart John Bernard
Lord John Stuart and his brother, Lord Bernard Stuart by Van Dyck, c. 1638, ©National Gallery, London

Courtauld poets
Portrait of an Old and Younger Man (John Taylor and John Denham), 1643, by William Dobson, ©The Courtauld Institute of Art

There are many examples of Van Dyck and Lely’s skill when it comes to painting clothes, but I’ve yet to find a tablecloth I like better than Dobson’s!

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by rfjblog on October 5, 2019 • Permalink

Posted in Uncategorized

Tagged Dobson, Lely, Van Dyck

Posted by rfjblog on October 5, 2019

https://rfjblog.wordpress.com/2019/10/05/creases-and-crinkles/

Dobson exhibition on the way!

Exciting news! Tate Britain in London will be holding an exhibition on William Dobson from 29th October 2018 to 28th April 2019.

Endymion Porter c.1642-5 by William Dobson 1611-1646

The show, called “William Dobson: Artist of the Civil War” will apparently focus on the impact of the conflict on his work, looking at how conditions in the King’s Oxford headquarters showed in the paintings Dobson produced during the four years he lived there among the Royalist court. The Tate promises to display pictures from its own collection – presumably to include those of Endymion Porter (above) and Dobson’s wife Judith – as well as works from private collections.

There have been a handful of small displays of Dobson’s works over the years, usually with no more than two or three canvases together at any one time, but nothing of this size has been held since the major exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery in 1983. The Tate haven’t said exactly which pictures are included, but as a large number of known works are in private hands and haven’t been seen in public since the NPG event, this is a rare and unmissable chance to see some of the pictures we’ve only ever seen in black and white in a catalogue (unless you were lucky enough to visit in 1983!).

Naturally, as one of Dobson’s biggest fans, I’m intending to visit as soon as possible – hopefully more than once! – and will post a review as soon as I can. If any readers are able to pay a visit, please get in touch and tell us what you think. We’d love to hear reviews!

In the meantime, I’d like to add a shameless plug for my Dobson biography, “The King’s Painter” (pub. 2016), which is available from the publisher Tyger’s Head Books, HERE. The current print run has almost sold out, but more copies are on the way. Before ordering, please drop THB an email or DM via Twitter, to ensure availability. 🙂

2 Comments

by rfjblog on October 25, 2018 • Permalink

Posted in Books, exhibition, Painters, Uncategorized

Tagged Dobson, Tate Britain

Posted by rfjblog on October 25, 2018

https://rfjblog.wordpress.com/2018/10/25/dobson-exhibition-on-the-way/

Dobsons reunited at Tate Britain

Great news from Tate Britain this week! For the next three years, the gallery will be hosting William Dobson’s earliest known self-portrait alongside his own portrait of second wife, Judith.

WandJatTate

From at least the late 1700s, both portraits were hanging together at Howsham Hall, a stately home in Yorkshire. When the house and its contents were sold in 1948, the couple went their separate ways. They briefly came back together for the 1983 National Portrait Gallery exhibition of Dobson’s work, with Judith purchased by the Tate in 1992. William’s picture remained in private hands until it came up for auction last year, and although it was once again sold to a private collector, the current owner (in contrast to the previous one, who never lent it anywhere), has already shared it with viewers at the National Portrait Gallery, before moving it to the Tate for the new loan.

I’ll definitely be visiting the Tate soon, and look forward to seeing the Dobsons back together at last! My only concern is that, last time I visited the gallery, specifically to see the artist’s wife, she was poorly displayed, high up on a wall with a shaft of light obscuring her face. Hopefully the curation will be better this time….

Judith was born Judith Sander, some time around 1609, in London. She became Dobson’s second wife in 1637, and their only surviving child, Katherine, was born in 1639. Judith outlived her husband by a number of years, remarrying in 1648 and surviving until at least the Restoration of Charles II, when she was said to have discussed the King’s coronation outfit with antiquarian and friend, John Aubrey. It is not know when she died.

Tate are also planning a special display on Dobson next year. Hopefully they’ll have more details on that soon.

Portraits at the Tate

John Greenhill

We’ve all heard of Sir Peter Lely, celebrated court painter to Charles II, and one of the most famous artists of the 17th century, but who has heard of his pupil, John Greenhill? I hadn’t, but after a little research I think he’s worthy of a discussion.

Here he is, in a self-portrait from late 1660s/early 1670s.

John Greenhill self portrait

Born in Salisbury sometime in the 1640s – source dates differ from 1642 to 1649 – he was the eldest son of John Greenhill, the registrar of the diocese of Salisbury, and Penelope Champneys of Orchardleigh, Somerset. Through his paternal uncles he was connected to the East India trade.

Greenhill came to London in around 1662 and began work as Lely’s pupil. He is said to have been a fast and talented student, learning much of Lely’s style and skill, with one commentator claiming his copy of Van Dyck’s portrait of “Thomas Killigrew and his dog” was so good it was hard to distinguish from the original, making his master jealous.

Although he began his career with such promise, and took a wife, the talented painter became very fond of the theatre, poetry and dramatic entertainment, gaining him a reputation for ‘irregular habits’. He died tragically young, either in his late 20s or early 30s, after stumbling home drunk from the theatre. Falling into the gutter he was helped home, but did not survive the night.

I can’t help noticing that Greenhill’s life holds a curious parallel with that of his predecessor some 20 years before. As court painter to the previous king, William Dobson was said to have had similiarly ‘dissolute’ habits while enjoying a privileged lifestyle in Oxford, and would also die young after returning to London, his true potential lost.

Greenhill’s artistic style shows the clear training and influence of Sir Peter, and one can see how, had he lived longer and developed his art further, he could certainly have approached his master’s quality.

Here are some more of his works: