![]() After Oxford fell to the Parliamentarians, in June 1646, Dobson returned to London. The thick impasto of his early work gave way to a mere skim of paint, perhaps reflecting a wartime scarcity of materials. He also painted at least the head of Duke of York, as well as portraits of leading Royalists such as Charles Lucas and John Byron, Prince Rupert of the Rhine and Prince Maurice.Īround sixty of Dobson's works survive, mostly half-length portraits dating from 1642 or later. His portrait of the future Charles II as Prince of Wales at the age of around twelve is a notable baroque composition, and perhaps his finest work. During the English Civil War Dobson was based at the Royalist centre of Oxford and painted many leading Cavaliers. ![]() However, this claim comes from only one old and as yet unverified source. He is said to have become serjeant painter to the king and groom of the privy chamber. Little is known of Dobson's career in the 1630s, but when Van Dyck died in 1641, the opportunity arose for him to gain royal commissions from King Charles. The colour and texture of Dobson's work was influenced by Venetian art, but Van Dyck's style has little apparent influence on Dobson.The story that Van Dyck himself discovered Dobson when he noticed one of the young artist's pictures in a London shop window is not supported by any evidence, nor do we know how he gained his introduction to the King, who had Dobson paint himself, his sons and members of the court. Dobson is believed to have had access to the Royal Collection and to have copied works by Titian and Anthony van Dyck, the court painter of King Charles I of England. There is a claim that his father was a decorative artist, but this is may be a misreading of the single known quote about Dobson Sr, by the antiquarian John Aubrey. He was apprenticed to William Peake and probably later joined the studio of Francis Cleyn. His reputation was in decline by the time of his death, but subsequently there has been a revival of interest in him, especially in his early work.William Dobson (4 March 1611 (baptised) 28 October 1646 (buried)) was a portraitist and one of the first notable English painters, praised by his contemporary John Aubrey as "the most excellent painter that England has yet bred".ĭobson was born in London, the son of a lawyer also called William Dobson. A new edition entitled The Autobiography of Augustus John appeared in 1975. He wrote two volumes of autobiography, Chiaroscuro, 1952, and Finishing Touches, posthumously published in 1964. He was one of the few British artists who have become familiar to the general public, and his image changed from that of rebel to Grand Old Man (he was awarded the Order of Merit in 1942). Increasingly, however, the painterly brilliance of his early work degenerated into flashiness and bombast, and the second half of his long career added little to his achievement, although he remained a colourful, newsworthy figure until the end of his life. He was taken up by society and painted a host of aristocratic beauties as well as many of the leading literary figures of the day. ![]() It is as a portraitist, however, that John is best remembered. In the First World War he was an Official War Artist. During the same period he also painted ambitious figure compositions, with stylized forms that bring him close to French Symbolist painters (The Way Down to the Sea, 1909–11, Lamont AG, Exeter, New Hampshire). As well as romanticized pictures of gypsy life he painted deliciously colourful small-scale landscapes, sometimes working alongside his friend J. In 1911–14 he led a nomadic life, sometimes living in a caravan and camping with gypsies. In the first quarter of the 20th century John was identified with all that was most independent and rebellious in British art and he became one of the most talked-about figures of the day.
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