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HAYDON, BENJAMIN ROBERT (1786-1846)

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Originally appearing in Volume V13, Page 112 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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HAYDON, See also:BENJAMIN See also:ROBERT (1786-1846) , See also:English See also:historical painter and writer, was See also:born at See also:Plymouth on the 26th of See also:January 1786. His See also:mother was the daughter of the Rev. Benjamin Cobley, See also:rector of Dodbrook, See also:Devon, whose son, See also:General See also:Sir See also:Thomas Cobley, signalized himself in the See also:Russian service at the See also:siege of See also:Ismail. His See also:father, a prosperous printer, stationer and publisher, was a See also:man of See also:literary See also:taste, and was well known and esteemed amongst all classes in Plymouth. Haydon, an only son, at an See also:early date gave See also:evidence of his taste for study, which was carefully fostered and promoted by his mother. At the See also:age of six he was placed in Plymouth See also:grammar school, and at twelve in Plympton St See also:Mary school. He completed his See also:education in this institution, where Sir See also:Joshua See also:Reynolds also had acquired all the scholastic training he ever received. On the See also:ceiling of the school-See also:room was a See also:sketch by Reynolds in burnt See also:cork, which it used to be Haydon's delight to sit and contemplate. Whilst at school he had some thought of adopting the medical profession, but he was so shocked at the sight of an operation that he gave up the See also:idea. A perusal of See also:Albinus, however, inspired him with a love for See also:anatomy; and Reynolds's discourses revived within him a smouldering taste for See also:painting, which from childhood had been the absorbing idea of his mind. Sanguine of success, full of See also:energy and vigour, he started from the parental roof, on the 14th of May 1804, for See also:London, and entered his name as a student of the Royal See also:Academy. He began and prosecuted his studies with such unwearied ardour that See also:Fuseli wondered when he ever found See also:time to eat.

At the age of twenty-one (1807) Haydon exhibited, for the first time, at the Royal Academy, " The Repose in See also:

Egypt," which was bought by Mr Thomas See also:Hope the See also:year after. This was a See also:good start for the See also:young artist, who shortly received a See also:commission from See also:Lord See also:Mulgrave and an introduction to Sir See also:George See also:Beaumont. In 1809 he finished his well-known picture of " See also:Dentatus," which, though it brought him a See also:great increase of fame, involved him in a lifelong See also:quarrel with the Royal Academy, whose See also:committee had hung the picture in a small See also:side-room instead of the great See also:hall. In 1810 his difficulties began through the stoppage of an See also:allowance of zoo a year he had received from his father. His disappointment was embittered by the controversies in which he now became involved with Sir George Beaumont, for whom he had painted his picture of " See also:Macbeth," and See also:Payne See also:Knight, who had denied the beauties as well as the See also:money value of the See also:Elgin See also:Marbles. " The See also:Judgment of See also:Solomon," his next See also:pro-duction, gained him loci, besides £10o voted to him by the See also:directors of the See also:British Institution, and the freedom of the See also:borough of Plymouth. To recruit his See also:health and See also:escape for a time from the cares of London See also:life, Haydon joined his intimate friend See also:Wilkie in a trip to See also:Paris; he studied at the Louvre; and on his return to See also:England produced his " See also:Christ's Entry into See also:Jerusalem," which afterwards formed the See also:nucleus of the See also:American See also:Gallery of Painting, erected by his See also:cousin, See also:John Haviland of See also:Philadelphia. Whilst painting another large See also:work, the " Resurrection of See also:Lazarus," his pecuniary difficulties increased, and for the first time he was arrested but not imprisoned, the See also:sheriff-officer taking his word for his See also:appearance. Amidst all these harassing cares he married in See also:October 1821 a beautiful young widow who had some See also:children, Mrs Hyman, to whom he was devotedly attached. In 1823 Haydon was lodged in the See also:King's See also:Bench, where he received consoling letters from the first men of the See also:day. Whilst a prisoner he See also:drew up a See also:petition to See also:parliament in favour of the See also:appointment of " a committee to inquire into the See also:state of encouragement of historical painting," which was presented by See also:Brougham. He also, during a second imprisonment in 1827, produced the picture of the " See also:Mock See also:Election," the idea of which had been suggested by an incident that happened in the See also:prison.

The king (George IV.) gave him £500 for this work. Among Haydon's other pictures were—1829, " Eucles " and " See also:

Punch "; 1831," See also:Napoleon at St See also:Helena," for Sir Robert See also:Peel; "See also:Xenophon, on his See also:Retreat with the ` Ten Thousand,' first seeing the See also:Sea "; and " Waiting for the Times," See also:purchased by the See also:marquis of See also:Stafford; 1832, " Falstaff " and " See also:Achilles playing the See also:Lyre." In 1834 he completed the " Reform Banquet," for Lord See also:Grey—this painting contained 197 portraits; in 1843, " See also:Curtius Leaping into the Gulf," and " Uriel and Satan." There was also the " See also:Meeting of the See also:Anti-See also:Slavery Society," energetically treated, now in the See also:National Portrait Gallery. When the competition took See also:place at See also:Westminster Hall, Haydon sent two cartoons, " The Curse of See also:Adam " and " See also:Edward the See also:Black See also:Prince," but, with some unfairness, he was not allowed a See also:prize for either. He then painted " The Banishment of See also:Aristides," which was exhibited with other productions under the same roof where the American See also:dwarf Tom Thumb was then making his debut in London. The See also:exhibition was unsuccessful; and the artist's difficulties increased to such an extent that, whilst employed on his last See also:grand effort, " See also:Alfred and the Trial by See also:Jury," overcome by See also:debt, disappointment and ingratitude, he wrote " Stretch me no longer on this rough See also:world," and put an end to his existence with a See also:pistol-shot, on the 22nd of See also:June 1846, in the sixty-first year of his age. He See also:left a widow and three children (various others had died), who, by the generosity of their father's See also:friends, were rescued from their pecuniary difficulties and comfortably provided for; amongst the foremost of these friends were Sir Robert Peel, See also:Count D'Orsay, Mr See also:Justice See also:Talfourd and Lord See also:Carlisle. Haydon began his first lecture on painting and See also:design in 1835, and afterwards visited all the See also:principal towns in England and See also:Scotland. His delivery was energetic and imposing, his See also:language powerful, flowing and See also:apt, and replete with wit and See also:humour; and to look at the lecturer, excited by his subject, one could scarcely See also:fancy him a man overwhelmed with difficulties and anxieties. The height of Haydon's ambition was to behold the See also:chief buildings of his See also:country adorned with historical representations of her See also:glory. He lived to see the See also:acknowledgment of his principles by See also:government in the See also:establishment of schQols of design, and the embellishment of the new houses of parliament; but in the competition of artists for the carrying out of this See also:object, the commissioners (amongst whom was one of his former pupils) considered, or affected to consider, that he had failed. Haydon was well versed in all points of his profession; and his Lectures, which were published shortly after their delivery, showed that he was as bold a writer as painter. It may be mentioned in this connexion that he was the author of the See also:long and elaborate See also:article, " Painting," in the 7th edition of the See also:Encyclopaedia Britannica.

To See also:

form a correct estimate of Haydon it is necessary to read his autobiography. This is one of the most natural books ever written, full of various and abundant See also:power, and fascinating to the reader. The author seems to have daguerreotyped his feelings and sentiments without See also:restraint as they See also:rose in his mind, and his portrait stands in these volumes limned to the life by his own See also:hand. His love for his See also:art was both a See also:passion and a principle. He found patrons difficult to See also:manage; and, not having the tact to See also:lead them gently, he tried to drive them fiercely. He failed, abused patrons and patronage, and inter-mingled talk of the noblest See also:independence with acts not always dignified. He was self-willed to perversity, but his perseverance was such as is seldom associated with so much vehemence and passion. With a large fund of genuine self-reliance he combined a considerable measure of vanity. To the last he believed in his own See also:powers and in the ultimate See also:triumph of art. In taste he was deficient, at least as concerned himself. Hence the See also:tone of self-assertion which he assumed in his advertisements, catalogues and other appeals to the public. He proclaimed himself the apostle and See also:martyr of high art, and, not without some justice, he believed himself to have on that See also:account a claim on the sympathy and support of the nation.

It must be confessed that he often tested severely those whom he called his friends. Every reader of his autobiography will be struck at the frequency and fervour of the See also:

short prayers interspersed throughout the work. Haydon had an overwhelming sense of a See also:personal, overruling and merciful See also:providence, which influenced his relations with his See also:family, and to some extent with the world. His conduct as a See also:husband and father entitles him to the utmost sympathy. In art his powers and attainments were undoubtedly very great, although his actual performances mostly fall short of the See also:faculty which was manifestly within him; his general range and force of mind were also most remarkable, and would have qualified him to shine in almost any path of intellectual exertion or of See also:practical work. His eager and combative See also:character was partly his enemy; but he had other enemies actuated by motives as unworthy as his own were always high-pitched and on abstract grounds laudable. Of his three great See also:works—the " Solomon," the " Entry into Jerusalem " and the " Lazarus "—the second has generally been regarded as the finest. The " Solomon " is also a very admirable See also:production, showing his executive power at its loftiest, and of itself enough to place Haydon at the See also:head of British historical painting in his own time. The " Lazarus " (which belongs to the National Gallery, but is not now on view there) is a more unequal performance, and in various respects open to See also:criticism and censure; yet the head of Lazarus is so majestic and impressive that, if its author had done nothing else, we must still pronounce him a potent pictorial See also:genius. The chief authorities for the life of Haydon are Life of B. R. Haydon, from his Autobiography and See also:Journals, edited and compiled by Tom See also:Taylor (3 vols., 1853) ; and B.

R. Haydon's See also:

Correspondence and Table Talk, with a memoir by his son, F. W. Haydon (2 vols., 1876). (W. M.

End of Article: HAYDON, BENJAMIN ROBERT (1786-1846)

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