John Greenhill
Encyclopedia
John Greenhill was an English portrait painter, a pupil of Peter Lely
, who approached his teacher in artistic excellence, but whose life was cut short by a dissolute lifestyle.
, Somerset
(now Wiltshire
) around 1644, the eldest son of John Greenhill, registrar of the diocese of Salisbury, and Penelope Champneys, daughter of Richard Champneys of Orchardleigh
, Somerset. His grandfather was Henry Greenhill of Steeple Ashton
in Wiltshire
. His father was connected through his brothers with the East India
trade.
Greenhill's first attempt was a portrait of his paternal uncle, James Abbott of Salisbury, whom he is said to have sketched surreptitiously, as the old man would not sit for him. About 1662 he moved to London
, and became a pupil of Sir Peter Lely
. His progress was rapid, and he acquired some of Lely's skill and method. He carefully studied Vandyck's portraits, and George Vertue
commented that he copied so closely Vandyck's portrait of "Thomas Killigrew and his dog" that it was difficult to know which was the original. Vertue also says that his progress excited Lely's jealousy.
Greenhill was at first industrious, and married early. But a taste for poetry and drama, and living in Covent Garden
in the vicinity of the theatres, led him to associate with many members of the free-living theatrical world, and he fell into "irregular habits". On 19 May 1676, while returning from the "Vine Tavern" (in Holborn
) in a state of intoxication, he fell into the gutter in Long Acre
, and was carried to his lodgings in Lincoln's Inn Fields
, where he died the same night. He was buried in St Giles in the Fields
church. He left a widow and family, to whom Lely gave an annuity.
Among Greenhill's personal admirers was dramatist Aphra Behn
, who kept up an amorous correspondence with him, and lamented his early death in a fulsome panegyric
.
Greenhill's portraits are of great merit, often approaching those of Lely in excellence. Among his chief sitters were Bishop Seth Ward
, in the Guildhall at Salisbury, painted in 1673; Anthony Ashley Cooper, 1st Earl of Shaftesbury
, painted more than once during his chancellorship in 1672 (engraved by Abraham Blooteling
); John Locke
, who wrote some verses in Greenhill's praise (engraved by Pieter van Gunst); Sir William D'Avenant (engraved by William Faithorne
); Philip Woolrich (engraved in mezzotint
by Francis Place
); poet Abraham Cowley
, Admiral Edward Spragge
and others.
Greenhill painted a self-portrait, now hanging in the Dulwich Picture Gallery
in London (engraved in Wornum's edition of Horace Walpole's "Anecdotes of Painting"). He also drew a portrait of himself as did Lely.
by the Royal African Company
. In 1685 he was elected an elder brother of the Trinity House
, in 1689 commissioner of the Transport Office, and in 1691 one of the principal commissioners of the navy. The building of Plymouth Dockyard was completed under his direction. He received a mourning ring under Samuel Pepys
's will. He died 24 May 1708, and was buried at Stockton, Wiltshire
, where there is a monument to his memory. An etched portrait of Henry Greenhill was made in 1667.
Peter Lely
Sir Peter Lely was a painter of Dutch origin, whose career was nearly all spent in England, where he became the dominant portrait painter to the court.-Life:...
, who approached his teacher in artistic excellence, but whose life was cut short by a dissolute lifestyle.
Life and work
Greenhill was born at SalisburySalisbury
Salisbury is a cathedral city in Wiltshire, England and the only city in the county. It is the second largest settlement in the county...
, Somerset
Somerset
The ceremonial and non-metropolitan county of Somerset in South West England borders Bristol and Gloucestershire to the north, Wiltshire to the east, Dorset to the south-east, and Devon to the south-west. It is partly bounded to the north and west by the Bristol Channel and the estuary of the...
(now Wiltshire
Wiltshire
Wiltshire is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset, Somerset, Hampshire, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire. It contains the unitary authority of Swindon and covers...
) around 1644, the eldest son of John Greenhill, registrar of the diocese of Salisbury, and Penelope Champneys, daughter of Richard Champneys of Orchardleigh
Orchardleigh Estate
Orchardleigh is a country estate in Somerset, approximately two miles north of Frome, and on the southern edge of the village of Lullington. It comprises a Victorian stately home, an island church, and an 18-hole golf course...
, Somerset. His grandfather was Henry Greenhill of Steeple Ashton
Steeple Ashton
Steeple Ashton is a village and a civil parish in Wiltshire, England.-Description:Steeple Ashton today is a busy village. It has an award winning local shop, run by a small army of volunteers, a thriving pub, a football team, an active Trust supporting the Church which organises events, a day...
in Wiltshire
Wiltshire
Wiltshire is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset, Somerset, Hampshire, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire. It contains the unitary authority of Swindon and covers...
. His father was connected through his brothers with the East India
Indies
The Indies is a term that has been used to describe the lands of South and Southeast Asia, occupying all of the present India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka, the Maldives, and also Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Brunei, Singapore, the Philippines, East Timor, Malaysia and...
trade.
Greenhill's first attempt was a portrait of his paternal uncle, James Abbott of Salisbury, whom he is said to have sketched surreptitiously, as the old man would not sit for him. About 1662 he moved to London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, and became a pupil of Sir Peter Lely
Peter Lely
Sir Peter Lely was a painter of Dutch origin, whose career was nearly all spent in England, where he became the dominant portrait painter to the court.-Life:...
. His progress was rapid, and he acquired some of Lely's skill and method. He carefully studied Vandyck's portraits, and George Vertue
George Vertue
George Vertue was an English engraver and antiquary, whose notebooks on British art of the first half of the 18th century are a valuable source for the period.-Life:...
commented that he copied so closely Vandyck's portrait of "Thomas Killigrew and his dog" that it was difficult to know which was the original. Vertue also says that his progress excited Lely's jealousy.
Greenhill was at first industrious, and married early. But a taste for poetry and drama, and living in Covent Garden
Covent Garden
Covent Garden is a district in London on the eastern fringes of the West End, between St. Martin's Lane and Drury Lane. It is associated with the former fruit and vegetable market in the central square, now a popular shopping and tourist site, and the Royal Opera House, which is also known as...
in the vicinity of the theatres, led him to associate with many members of the free-living theatrical world, and he fell into "irregular habits". On 19 May 1676, while returning from the "Vine Tavern" (in Holborn
Holborn
Holborn is an area of Central London. Holborn is also the name of the area's principal east-west street, running as High Holborn from St Giles's High Street to Gray's Inn Road and then on to Holborn Viaduct...
) in a state of intoxication, he fell into the gutter in Long Acre
Long Acre
Long Acre is a street in central London, England. Starting from St. Martin's Lane it runs from west to east just north of Covent Garden piazza, one block north of Floral Street. The street was completed in the early 17th century. It was once known for its coach-makers, and later for its car dealers...
, and was carried to his lodgings in Lincoln's Inn Fields
Lincoln's Inn Fields
Lincoln's Inn Fields is the largest public square in London, UK. It was laid out in the 1630s under the initiative of the speculative builder and contractor William Newton, "the first in a long series of entrepreneurs who took a hand in developing London", as Sir Nikolaus Pevsner observes...
, where he died the same night. He was buried in St Giles in the Fields
St Giles in the Fields
St Giles in the Fields, Holborn, is a church in the London Borough of Camden, in the West End. It is close to the Centre Point office tower and the Tottenham Court Road tube station. The church is part of the Diocese of London within the Church of England...
church. He left a widow and family, to whom Lely gave an annuity.
Among Greenhill's personal admirers was dramatist Aphra Behn
Aphra Behn
Aphra Behn was a prolific dramatist of the English Restoration and was one of the first English professional female writers. Her writing contributed to the amatory fiction genre of British literature.-Early life:...
, who kept up an amorous correspondence with him, and lamented his early death in a fulsome panegyric
Panegyric
A panegyric is a formal public speech, or written verse, delivered in high praise of a person or thing, a generally highly studied and discriminating eulogy, not expected to be critical. It is derived from the Greek πανηγυρικός meaning "a speech fit for a general assembly"...
.
Portraits
Seth Ward (bishop)
Seth Ward was an English mathematician, astronomer, and bishop.-Early life:He was born in Hertfordshire, and educated at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, where he graduated B.A. in 1636 and M.A. in 1640, becoming a Fellow in that year...
, in the Guildhall at Salisbury, painted in 1673; Anthony Ashley Cooper, 1st Earl of Shaftesbury
Anthony Ashley Cooper, 1st Earl of Shaftesbury
Anthony Ashley Cooper, 1st Earl of Shaftesbury PC , known as Anthony Ashley Cooper from 1621 to 1631, as Sir Anthony Ashley Cooper, 2nd Baronet from 1631 to 1661, and as The Lord Ashley from 1661 to 1672, was a prominent English politician during the Interregnum and during the reign of King Charles...
, painted more than once during his chancellorship in 1672 (engraved by Abraham Blooteling
Abraham Blooteling
Abraham Blooteling was an eminent Dutch designer and engraver.He was born at Amsterdam. From the style of his etchings it is not unlikely that he was brought up under the Visschers. On the inroad of the French into Holland in 1672, he came to England, where he met with encouragement, but did not...
); John Locke
John Locke
John Locke FRS , widely known as the Father of Liberalism, was an English philosopher and physician regarded as one of the most influential of Enlightenment thinkers. Considered one of the first of the British empiricists, following the tradition of Francis Bacon, he is equally important to social...
, who wrote some verses in Greenhill's praise (engraved by Pieter van Gunst); Sir William D'Avenant (engraved by William Faithorne
William Faithorne
William Faithorne , often "the Elder", , English painter and engraver, was born in London and was apprenticed to William Peake....
); Philip Woolrich (engraved in mezzotint
Mezzotint
Mezzotint is a printmaking process of the intaglio family, technically a drypoint method. It was the first tonal method to be used, enabling half-tones to be produced without using line- or dot-based techniques like hatching, cross-hatching or stipple...
by Francis Place
Francis Place (artist)
Francis Place was an English gentleman draughtsman, potter, engraver and printmaker, active mainly in York.He was the fifth son of Rowland Place of Dinsdale, county Durham, and his wife, Catherine , daughter and coheiress of Charles Wise of Copgrove, Yorkshire.Place entered law as his father had...
); poet Abraham Cowley
Abraham Cowley
Abraham Cowley was an English poet born in the City of London late in 1618. He was one of the leading English poets of the 17th century, with 14 printings of his Works published between 1668 and 1721.-Early life and career:...
, Admiral Edward Spragge
Edward Spragge
Sir Edward Spragge was an English admiral. His name was also written as Spragg or Sprague.Spragge was a fiery, brilliantly accomplished Irish seaman who fought in many great actions after the restoration of King Charles II in 1660.Spragge was an officer of the Royal Navy who remained loyal to the...
and others.
Greenhill painted a self-portrait, now hanging in the Dulwich Picture Gallery
Dulwich Picture Gallery
Dulwich Picture Gallery is an art gallery in Dulwich, South London. England's first purpose-built public art gallery, it was designed by Regency architect Sir John Soane and opened to the public in 1817. Soane arranged the exhibition spaces as a series of interlinked rooms illuminated naturally...
in London (engraved in Wornum's edition of Horace Walpole's "Anecdotes of Painting"). He also drew a portrait of himself as did Lely.
Family
Henry Greenhill (21 June 1646 – 24 May 1708), was the younger brother of John, also born in Salisbury. He distinguished himself in the merchant service in the West Indies, and was rewarded by the admiralty. He was appointed Governor of the Gold CoastGold Coast (British colony)
The Gold Coast was a British colony on the Gulf of Guinea in west Africa that became the independent nation of Ghana in 1957.-Overview:The first Europeans to arrive at the coast were the Portuguese in 1471. They encountered a variety of African kingdoms, some of which controlled substantial...
by the Royal African Company
Royal African Company
The Royal African Company was a slaving company set up by the Stuart family and London merchants once the former retook the English throne in the English Restoration of 1660...
. In 1685 he was elected an elder brother of the Trinity House
Trinity House
The Corporation of Trinity House of Deptford Strond is the official General Lighthouse Authority for England, Wales and other British territorial waters...
, in 1689 commissioner of the Transport Office, and in 1691 one of the principal commissioners of the navy. The building of Plymouth Dockyard was completed under his direction. He received a mourning ring under Samuel Pepys
Samuel Pepys
Samuel Pepys FRS, MP, JP, was an English naval administrator and Member of Parliament who is now most famous for the diary he kept for a decade while still a relatively young man...
's will. He died 24 May 1708, and was buried at Stockton, Wiltshire
Stockton, Wiltshire
Stockton is a small village in the Wylye Valley in Wiltshire, England .-Location and extent:The village is close to Codford, south of the A36 road, between the town of Warminster and the city of Salisbury....
, where there is a monument to his memory. An etched portrait of Henry Greenhill was made in 1667.
External links
- John Greenhill online (ArtCyclopedia)
- John Greenhill on Artnet
- Portraits by John Greenhill (National Portrait Gallery, London)
- Drawing of John Locke (Peter Mould Fine paintings)