Background
Dupont was born in Sudbury, Suffolk, on 20 December 1754 the eldest son of Thomas Gainsborough"s sister Sarah, and her husband Philip Dupont.
Dupont was born in Sudbury, Suffolk, on 20 December 1754 the eldest son of Thomas Gainsborough"s sister Sarah, and her husband Philip Dupont.
In 1772 he was apprenticed to Gainsborough, for whom he continued to work until the latter"s death in 1788.
He was the only assistant Gainsborough is ever known to have employed. He also trained at the Royal Academy Schools, where he became a student in March 1775. Dupont took over Gainsborough"s studio in 1788, and moved to Bloomsbury in 1793, following the death of Gainsborough"s widow.
From 1779 onwards, Dupont he made a series of mezzotints after Gainsborough"s portraits.
They include:
George III., full length. Queen Charlotte, full length.
The Princess Royal, and the Princesses Augusta and Elizabeth, full length. George, Lord Rodney, full length.
General Conway, full length.
Colonel Saint Leger, full length. Review Sir Henry Bate Dudley, Baronet. Review Richard Graves, half-length, oval.
Dupont died in London on 20 January 1797, aged 42.
He was buried in Kew churchyard in the same grave as Thomas Gainsborough.