(Artist, diarist, and devotee of the Elgin Marbles, Benjam...)
Artist, diarist, and devotee of the Elgin Marbles, Benjamin Robert Haydon (1786-1846) is best known for his large-scale paintings, such as Christ's Entry into Jerusalem and The Raising of Lazarus. After he entered the Royal Academy in 1805 as a student of Henry Fuseli, his forthright views and combative manner fuelled a feud with the institution and perceived enemies. His unshakeable belief in his own genius and his unwillingness to compromise his artistic standards drew him ever further into debt, which ultimately contributed to his suicide. As a writer, Haydon's acute eye for the humorous is demonstrated throughout his correspondence and diary. In this two-volume work, first published in 1876, his son Frederick Wordsworth Haydon (1827-86) brings together letters and extracts from his father's journals. Volume 1 contains a biography and general correspondence. Volume 2 includes letters to and from Keats and Wordsworth, along with journal extracts.
(This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. T...)
This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. This book may have occasional imperfections
such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact,
or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections,
have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works
worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book.
Benjamin Robert Haydon was an English painter who specialized in grand historical pictures, although he also painted a few contemporary subjects and portraits.
Background
Haydon was born in Plymouth on 26 January 1786, the only son of another Benjamin Robert Haydon, a prosperous printer, stationer and publisher, and his wife Mary, the daughter of the Rev. Benjamin Cobley, rector of Dodbrooke, near Kingsbridge, Devon. His mother was the daughter of the Rev. Benjamin Cobley, rector of Dodbrook, Devon, whose son, General Sir Thomas Cobley, signalized himself in the Russian service at the siege of Ismail.
Education
At an early age, he showed an aptitude for study, which was carefully fostered by his mother. At the age of six, he was placed in Plymouth Grammar School, and at twelve in Plympton Grammar School, where Sir Joshua Reynolds had received most of his education. Reading Albinus inspired him with a love for anatomy, and from childhood, he wanted to become a painter. On 14 May 1804, he entered the Royal Academy Schools in London.
Career
From an early age he showed great determination to succeed, yet his life ended in imprisonment for debt and suicide.
In 1807, at the age of 21, Haydon exhibited, for the first time, at the Royal Academy.
The painting he entered, The Repose in Egypt, was bought by Thomas Hope a year later for the Egyptian Room at his townhouse in Duchess Street. This was a good start for Haydon, who shortly afterwards received a commission from Lord Mulgrave and an introduction to Sir George Beaumont.
In 1809 he finished his picture of Dentatus, which, though it increased his fame, resulted in a lifelong quarrel with the Royal Academy, whose committee hung it in a small side-room instead of in the great hall.
That same year, he took on his first pupil, Charles Lock Eastlake, later a leading figure in the British art establishment.
The financial difficulties which were to dog him for the rest of his life began in 1810 when, in response to Haydon having achieved a certain amount of commercial success, his father stopped paying him his annual allowance of £200.
He also became involved in disputes with Beaumont, for whom he had painted a picture of Macbeth, and with Richard Payne Knight, who had outraged Haydon by denying both the aesthetic and the financial value of the sculptures from the Parthenon, recently brought to Britain by Lord Elgin.
Haydon was fascinated by the "Elgin Marbles", and believed that they provided evidence that ancient Greek artists had studied anatomy.
The Judgment of Solomon, his next production, was sold for £700, to two Plymouth bankers, and also brought £100 voted to him by the directors of the British Institution, and the freedom of the borough of Plymouth.
The income was not enough to pay off all his debts, but it maintained his credit, allowing him to continue borrowing.
Haydon became well known as a lecturer on painting, and from 1835 onwards travelled throughout England and Scotland on lecture tours.
He campaigned to have the country's public buildings decorated with history paintings showing the glories of the nation's past, and within three days of the destruction of the Palace of Westminster by fire in 1834 he visited the prime minister, Lord Melbourne, in order to impress on him the importance of government patronage of art, especially in relation to the opportunities offered by the rebuilding made necessary by the disaster.
Although a scheme along the lines of his suggestions was in fact carried out at the Houses of Parliament, Haydon played no part in it.
When, in 1843, an exhibition was held at Westminster Hall, to choose designs for paintings to decorate the Houses of Parliament, he submitted two cartoons – The Curse of Adam and Edward the Black Prince – but the commission charged with choosing artists to carry out the work (which included his former pupil, Eastlake) found neither suitable.
Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington by Benjamin Robert Haydon
He then painted The Banishment of Aristides, which was exhibited, along with other works, at the Egyptian Hall in Piccadilly, where he had hired a gallery several times over the years.
The American dwarf General Tom Thumb was then appearing at the same venue; over the Easter week 12, 000 people paid to see him, while only 133 visited Haydon's exhibition.
He is now chiefly remembered for his Autobiography and Memoirs, published in 1853.
The artist's difficulties increased to such an extent that, whilst employed on his last grand effort, Alfred and the Trial by Jury, overcome by debts of over £3, 000, disappointment, and ingratitude, he wrote "Stretch me no longer on this rough world, " and attempted suicide by shooting himself.
The bullet failed to kill him, and he finished the task by cutting his throat. He left a widow and three surviving children, who were generously supported by Haydon's friends, including Sir Robert Peel, the Count d'Orsay, Thomas Talfourd, and Lord Carlisle.
A resident of Paddington, he was buried just to the north-west of the grave of Sarah Siddons at St Mary's Church, Paddington, London.
The cemetery was converted to a park, St Mary's Gardens, in 1885. Haydon's is one of the few preserved stones. It is modest and eroded but his name is still (2014) just legible.
Despite his pugnacious character he had many admirers among the Romantic movement in literature, especially Wordsworth and Keats, whose portraits he painted.
Quotes from others about the person
Charles Dickens wrote in 1846 that "All his life [Haydon] had utterly mistaken his vocation. No amount of sympathy with him and sorrow for him in his manly pursuit of a wrong idea for so many years — until, by dint of his perseverance and courage it almost began to seem a right one — ought to prevent one from saying that he most unquestionably was a very bad painter, and that his pictures could not be expected to sell or to succeed. "
Connections
In October, 1821, he increased his commitments when he married Mary Hyman, a widow with two young children, whom he had known for some years.