Thomas Hudson (painter)

Thomas Hudson ( * 1701 in Devon, † January 26, 1779 in Twickenham, near London ) was a British portrait painter and art collector. He was known as " the portraitist of the British establishment ".

Life

Hudson studied painting with the portrait painter Jonathan Richardson in London, who also drew a portrait of Hudson. Shortly before 1725, he also married his daughter, but against his own will. After her death, he married his second wife a Mrs. Fiennes.

Hudson became famous in the 1730s, his most labor intensive time lay in the twenty years 1740-1760. Between 1745 and 1755 he was even considered the most successful portrait painter of London, he was the " Modeporträtist " and developed the portrait painting to a specifically English art form. Since 1753 he lived in Cross Deep, Twickenham, today part of Greater London, in its Gothic house which he had built on the acquired from the estate of the deceased architect Roger Morris in 1749 land.

In his London studio Hudson employed several staff members to get help for his paintings. He painted at least 400 portraits, of which about 80 were distributed as engravings. He was the portraitist of the Royal House to George II, the court nobility, the gentry, with church leaders, scholars, actors and musicians. From him the two only surviving age portraits of George Frideric Handel are from the years 1749 and 1756th Both artists knew each other for a long time. Hudson is said to have painted about 15 portraits of Handel.

Hudson was one of a group of artists with William Hogarth, who influenced him greatly, Allan Ramsay, Francis Hayman (1708-1776) and the sculptor John Michael Rysbrack ( 1694-1770 ). Among his pupils were also Joshua Reynolds, who was age 17 in 1740 and remained with him until 1743, Joseph Wright of Derby and Thomas Jenkins. To 1755, when his pupil Reynolds and Allan Ramsay became more popular, however, was his own style to paint portraits, completely out of fashion. That's why he gave in 1767 on the painting. His extensive private collection was sold after his death on London auctions at Langford (1779 ) and Christie's ( 1785 ).

Today you can find many of his works in galleries and museums such as the National Portrait Gallery in London, the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich and the Tate Gallery.