Joseph Highmore
Encyclopedia
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
portrait
Portrait painting
Portrait painting is a genre in painting, where the intent is to depict the visual appearance of the subject. Beside human beings, animals, pets and even inanimate objects can be chosen as the subject for a portrait...
and historical
History painting
History painting is a genre in painting defined by subject matter rather than an artistic style, depicting a moment in a narrative story, rather than a static subject such as a portrait...
painter, illustrator
Illustrator
An Illustrator is a narrative artist who specializes in enhancing writing by providing a visual representation that corresponds to the content of the associated text...
and author.
Life
Highmore was born in LondonLondon
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...
, the third son of Edward Highmore, a coal merchant, and nephew of Thomas Highmore, Serjeant Painter
Serjeant Painter
The Serjeant Painter was an honorable and lucrative position with the British monarchy. It carried with it the prerogative of painting and gilding all of the King's residences, coaches, banners, etc. and it grossed over £ 1,000 in a good year by the 18th century...
to William III
William III of England
William III & II was a sovereign Prince of Orange of the House of Orange-Nassau by birth. From 1672 he governed as Stadtholder William III of Orange over Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Guelders, and Overijssel of the Dutch Republic. From 1689 he reigned as William III over England and Ireland...
. He displayed early ability but was discouraged by his family. At the ending of a clerkship at the age of 17, he abandoned law and started to work as a painter. On the revival of the Order of the Bath
Order of the Bath
The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate mediæval ceremony for creating a knight, which involved bathing as one of its elements. The knights so created were known as Knights of the Bath...
in 1725, he was selected to paint the knights in full costume. The years 1732 to 1734 were spent on a tour of the Netherlands and France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
and on his return to England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, he applied himself to perfecting his talent, which continued for the next 50 years of his life, until his death at the age of 87 on 3 March 1780. Highmore was buried in sheep's wool (to comply with a 17th century statute to encourage the wool trade) in the fifth bay of the south aisle of Canterbury Cathedral
Canterbury Cathedral
Canterbury Cathedral in Canterbury, Kent, is one of the oldest and most famous Christian structures in England and forms part of a World Heritage Site....
.
Family
His wife Susanna HighmoreSusanna Highmore
Susanna Highmore was a British poet with a relatively small literary output. She was wife to Joseph Highmore, whom she married on 28 May 1716. Joseph Highmore was a portrait painter in high demand, and the couple lived in London and associated with Isaac Watts, William Duncombe, and Samuel...
(née Hiller) was a poet, though little of her work was published. His son, Anthony Highmore (1719-99) was an artist, of whose 15 children, Anthony Highmore Jnr. (1758-1829), became a writer on legal affairs and a social activist.
Works
Among his best works are biblical "Histories", historical painting being a style which Highmore had picked up on his travels in France. One such biblical painting is Hagar and Ishmael, which was donated to the Foundling HospitalFoundling Hospital
The Foundling Hospital in London, England was founded in 1741 by the philanthropic sea captain Thomas Coram. It was a children's home established for the "education and maintenance of exposed and deserted young children." The word "hospital" was used in a more general sense than it is today, simply...
for the purpose of decorating its Court Room (the room where the Court of Governors met). The painting is still part of the Foundling Hospital art collection and can now be seen at the Foundling Museum
Foundling Museum
The Foundling Museum in London tells the story of the Foundling Hospital, Britain's first home for abandoned children. The museum houses the nationally important Foundling Hospital Art Collection as well as the Gerald Coke Handel Collection, the world's greatest privately amassed collection of...
in London.
In 1744, he painted a series of 12 illustrations to Samuel Richardson
Samuel Richardson
Samuel Richardson was an 18th-century English writer and printer. He is best known for his three epistolary novels: Pamela: Or, Virtue Rewarded , Clarissa: Or the History of a Young Lady and The History of Sir Charles Grandison...
's "Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded" - these were engraved by Benoist
Guillaume Philippe Benoist
Guillaume Philippe Benoist, a French line-engraver, was born near Coutances, in Normandy, in 1725. He engraved, in a neat style, some portraits, and a few other subjects. He resided during the latter part of his life in London, where he died in 1770. The following plates are by...
and Louis Truchy.
As an author, he was best known for the works Critical Examination of Reubens' two Paintings in the Banqueting House and Observations on Bodwell's Pamphlet against Christianity.
See also
- Hubert-François GravelotHubert-François GravelotHubert-François Bourguignon, commonly known as Gravelot , was a French engraver, a famous book illustrator, designer and drawing-master...
(also provided illustrations for an earlier, 1742 edition, of Richardson's "Pamela").
External links
- Joseph Highmore online (Artcyclopedia)
- Joseph Highmore on Artnet
- Prominent artists in "Pamela" (University of Michigan)