Benjamin Robert Haydon (1786–1846)
Detail; Bartholomew Fair
Oil on canvas
H 71.5 x W 96 cm
Dover Collections
Benjamin Robert Haydon (26 January 1786 – 22 June 1846) was born in Plymouth. At an early age he showed an aptitude for study, which was carefully fostered by his mother. Reading Albinus inspired him with a love for anatomy, and from childhood he wanted to become a painter.
Benjamin Robert Haydon (1786–1846)
The Maid of Saragossa
oil on canvas
H 33 x W 54.5 cm
The Box, Plymouth
Agustina Raimunda Maria Saragossa i Domènech or Agustina of Aragón (March 4, 1786 – May 29, 1857) was a Spanish heroine who defended Spain during the Peninsular War, first as a civilian and later as a professional officer in the Spanish Army. Known as "the Spanish Joan of Arc," she has been the subject of much folklore, mythology, and artwork, including sketches by Francisco Goya and the poetry of Lord Byron. More on The Maid of Saragossa
He left home, on 14 May 1804, for London, where he entered the Royal Academy Schools. In 1807, at the age of 21, Haydon exhibited, for the first time, at the Royal Academy. The painting he entered, The Repose in Egypt, was bought by Thomas Hope a year later for the Egyptian Room at his townhouse in Duchess Street. This was a good start for Haydon, who shortly afterwards received a commission from Lord Mulgrave and an introduction to Sir George Beaumont. In 1809 he finished his picture of Dentatus, which, though it increased his fame, resulted in a lifelong quarrel with the Royal Academy, whose committee hung it in a small side-room instead of in the great hall. That same year, he took on his first pupil, Charles Lock Eastlake, later a leading figure in the British art establishment.
Benjamin Robert Haydon (1786–1846)
Judgement of Solomon
Oil on canvas
H 289.5 x W 390 cm
Plymouth City Council: Plymouth Guildhall
The Judgement of Solomon is a story from the Hebrew Bible in which King Solomon of Israel ruled between two women both claiming to be the mother of a child. Solomon revealed their true feelings and relationship to the child by suggesting the baby be cut in two, each woman to receive half. With this strategy, he was able to discern the non-mother as the woman who entirely approved of this proposal, while the actual mother begged that the sword might be sheathed and the child committed to the care of her rival. Some consider this approach to justice an archetypal example of an impartial judge displaying wisdom in making a ruling. More on The Judgement of Solomon
The financial difficulties which were to dog him for the rest of his life began in 1810 when, in response to Haydon having achieved a certain amount of commercial success, his father stopped paying him his annual allowance of £200. He also became involved in disputes with Beaumont, for whom he had painted a picture of Macbeth, and with Richard Payne Knight, who had outraged Haydon by denying both the aesthetic and the financial value of the sculptures from the Parthenon, recently brought to Britain by Lord Elgin. Haydon was fascinated by the "Elgin Marbles", and believed that they provided evidence that ancient Greek artists had studied anatomy.
Benjamin Robert Haydon (1786–1846)
Bartholomew Fair
Oil on canvas
H 71.5 x W 96 cm
Dover Collections
The Judgment of Solomon, his next production, was sold for £700, to two Plymouth bankers, and also brought £100 voted to him by the directors of the British Institution, and the freedom of the borough of Plymouth. The income was not enough to pay off all his debts, but it maintained his credit, allowing him to continue borrowing
At the end of May 1814 Haydon took advantage of the cessation of hostilities with France to visit Paris with his friend David Wilkie, and see the art collections gathered by Napoleon from across Europe at the Louvre. Much of what he saw there disappointed him: he described Raphael's Transfiguration, a painting he had particularly wanted to see, as "small & insignificant". At François Gerard's studio he saw a portrait of Napoleon, and began to develop a fascination with the defeated French leader, although, unlike some of his more radical friends such as William Hazlitt, Haydon never admired him politically.
Benjamin Robert Haydon (1786–1846)
Mary, Queen of Scots When an Infant, c. 1842
Oil on canvas
H 144.8 x W 182.9 cm
Leeds Art Gallery, Leeds Museums and Galleries
On returning to England, he produced Christ's Entry into Jerusalem, which was later to form the nucleus of the American Gallery of Painting, erected by his cousin, John Haviland of Philadelphia. While painting another large work, the Resurrection of Lazarus, his financial problems increased, and he was arrested but not imprisoned, the sheriff-officer taking his word for his appearance. In October, 1821, he increased his commitments when he married Mary Hyman, a widow with two young children, whom he had known for some years.
Benjamin Haydon (1786–1846)
Alexander the Great (356 – 323 BC) taming Bucephalus
Oil on canvas
Height: 153 cm (60.2 in); Width: 193 cm (75.9 in)
National Trust, London
Bucephalus was the favourite horse of Alexander the Great, who tamed the horse as a boy and took it with him on his campaigns until its death, after a battle.
In 1823 Haydon spent two months imprisoned for debt in the King's Bench Prison, where he received consoling letters from leading men of the day. While there, he drew up a petition to Parliament in favour of the appointment of "a committee to inquire into the state of encouragement of historical painting", which was presented by Lord Brougham.
During 1825, following an agreement for his financial support with his lawyer, Thomas Kearsey, Haydon turned, rather unwillingly, to portrait painting, and at first had considerable success. His works in the genre were, however, attacked in a savage review in Theodore Hook's weekly newspaper John Bull. Haydon later blamed the article for his loss of clientele, and falling back into unmanageable levels of debt. Following a second period of incarceration at the King's Bench Prison in 1827, he painted the Mock Election inspired by an incident he had witnessed there. The picture was bought by King George IV for £500. Encouraged by this success, he painted a companion picture, Chairing the Member, returning to the prison to make drawings of some of the inmates.
Benjamin Robert Haydon
Punch or May Day, c. 1829
Oil paint on canvas
1505 × 1851 mm
Tate
A third painting of contemporary life showed the audience at a Punch and Judy show in the New Road at Marylebone. His hopes that the king would buy this work were disappointed, a setback he blamed on the actions of the Keeper of the King's Pictures, William Seguier.
Benjamin Robert Haydon
Eucles, c. 1828
Etching
26 x 21.8 cm
Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco
Benjamin Haydon (1786–1846)
Napoléon Bonaparte
Oil on canvas
Height: 76.2 cm (30 in); Width: 63.1 cm (24.8 in)
National Portrait Gallery, London
Haydon was a great admirer of Napoleon Bonaparte. He painted dozens of pictures of him, bought his death mask and tried on one of the emperor's hats, which, to his delight, fitted exactly. Haydon's Bonaparte is contemplative, reflective, musing on his fortunes and misfortunes, the phenomenal energy stilled, the glory faded. This is one of 23 recorded replicas and variants listed by Haydon.
His first Napoleon picture was painted for Thomas Kearsey in 1829 and was exhibited at the Western Exchange in 1830 as Napoleon Musing After Sunset. A whole-length version entitled Napoleon Musing at St Helena was commissioned by Sir Robert Peel. Others include Napoleon Meditating at Marengo and Napoleon Contemplating his Future Grave. In 1831, a year of great civil unrest in Britain, William Wordsworth wrote to Haydon of this work, 'If I can command my thoughts I will write something about your Picture, in prose for the Muse has forsaken me - being scared away by the villainous aspect of the Times'. More on this painting
Benjamin Robert Haydon (British, 1786–1846)Title:
Xenophon and the Ten Thousand
Oil on Canvas
244 x 289.5 cm. (96.1 x 114 in.)
Private collection
Benjamin Robert Haydon
Xenophon and the Greeks Sighting the Sea
Pen and brown ink on wove paper
5 7/8 × 9 in, 14.9 × 22.9 cm
Private collection
Benjamin Robert Haydon
Waiting for the Times, c. 1831
Oil on canvas
I have no further description, at this timeAmong Haydon's other pictures were: Eucles (1829); Napoleon at St Helena, for Sir Robert Peel; Xenophon, on his Retreat with the 'Ten Thousand,' first seeing the Sea; and Waiting for the Times, purchased by the Marquis of Stafford (all 1831); and Falstaff and Achilles playing the Lyre (1832).
Benjamin Robert Haydon (1786–1846)
Curtius Leaping into the Gulf, c. 1842
Oil on canvas
H 304.8 x W 213.3 cm
Royal Albert Memorial Museum
After an earthquake in 362 BC, a huge deep pit suddenly opened in the Roman Forum, which the Romans attempted to fill in vain. Despairing, they consulted an augur who responded that the gods demanded the most precious possession of the country. The Romans doubted the warning, and struggled to think of what that was.
However, a young soldier named Marcus Curtius castigated them and responded that arms and the courage of Romans were the nation's most precious possessions. Astride his horse, fully and meticulously armed and decorated, Marcus rode and leapt into the chasm. Immediately, the deep pit closed over him, saving Rome. More on Lacus Curtius
Benjamin Robert Haydon (1786–1846)
The Meeting Of The Unions On Newhall Hill, Birmingham, May 7th, 1832
Oil On Canvas
Birmingham Museum
Haydn also painted, Curtius Leaping into the Gulf, and Uriel and Satan. (1843) As a supporter of parliamentary reform, he had the idea of painting a grand canvas of a meeting on Newhall Hill, addressed by Thomas Attwood, leader of the Birmingham Political Union.
Benjamin Haydon, (1786–1846)
The Anti-Slavery Society Convention, c. 1840
Oil on canvas
117 in. x 151 in. (2972 mm x 3836 mm)
National Portrait Gallery, London
This painting records the 1840 convention of the British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society which was established to promote worldwide abolition. A frail and elderly Thomas Clarkson addresses a meeting of over 500 delegates. Haydon later wrote: 'a liberated slave, now a delegate, is looking up to Clarkson with deep interest ... this is the point of interest in the picture, and illustrative of the object in painting it, the African sitting by the intellectual European, in equality and intelligence'. More on this painting
A small, mainly Quaker group led by Thomas Clarkson (1760–1846) formed The Society for the Abolition of the Slave Trade. Their cause seemed hopeless as slavery was crucial to Britain's economy but popular feeling was on their side. The French Revolution and the backlash against British Radicalism temporarily stalled the campaign for anti-slavery campaign. The Society's Parliamentary spokesman William Wilberforce finally oversaw the triumphant passing of the Abolition of the Slave Trade Act in 1807. More on this subject
Attempts to raise subscriptions to fund the painting failed, and only sketches were ever made, but Haydon did receive a commission from the new Whig prime minister, Lord Grey, for a picture of the Reform Banquet held at the Guildhall. Completed in 1834, the painting contained 597 individual portraits. He also made a painting of the Meeting of the Anti-Slavery Society, now in the National Portrait Gallery.
Benjamin Haydon, (1786–1846)
Chairing the Member, c. 1827
Oil paint on canvas
1745 × 2150 × 90 mm
Tate
Robert Stanton (4 January 1793 – 3 May 1833) was a British businessman, a looking-glass maker and banker who served for two years as a Tory Member of Parliament for the former English parliamentary constituency of Penryn in Cornwall.
After failing as a banker he did not stand again for Parliament. In 1827 he was committed to King's Bench Prison for debt, and was released before he died.
Haydon was himself in the prison for debt at the time and later painted two canvases to mark the occasion, "Chairing the Member" and "The Mock Election". Stanton appears in the second, "attired in the quilt of his bed, and in a yellow turban... pointing, without looking at his opponent, with a sneer". Wearing a blue rosette on his turban, Stanton was one of three candidates, the others being the "Lord Mayor of King's Gate Prison", with a yellow and blue rosette, and an Irishman, Joseph Meredith, wearing a red rosette, who is being instructed in the art of boxing by Henry Hold, a well-known pugilist. More on Robert Stanton
Benjamin Haydon, (1786–1846)
The Mock Election
Oil paint on canvas
1745 × 2150 × 90 mm
Royal Albert Memorial Museum
Haydon became well known as a lecturer on painting, and from 1835 onwards travelled throughout England and Scotland on lecture tours. He campaigned to have the country's public buildings decorated with history paintings showing the glories of the nation's past, and within three days of the destruction of the Palace of Westminster by fire in 1834 he visited the prime minister, Lord Melbourne, in order to impress on him the importance of government patronage of art, especially in relation to the opportunities offered by the rebuilding made necessary by the disaster. Although a scheme along the lines of his suggestions was in fact carried out at the Houses of Parliament, Haydon played no part in it. When, in 1843, an exhibition was held at Westminster Hall, to choose designs for paintings to decorate the Houses of Parliament, he submitted two cartoons – The Curse of Adam and Edward the Black Prince – but the commission charged with choosing artists to carry out the work (which included his former pupil, Eastlake) found neither suitable.
Benjamin Haydon, (1786–1846)
The Banishment of Aristides
Oil on canvas
28 X 36 IN. (71.1 X 91.4 CM.
Private collection
Aristides was an Athenian statesman and soldier. He was banished from Athens by his political enemies in 482 B.C. He returned to public service two years later. He was called Aristides the Just.
He then painted The Banishment of Aristides, which was exhibited, along with other works, at the Egyptian Hall in Piccadilly, where he had hired a gallery several times over the years. The American dwarf General Tom Thumb was then appearing at the same venue; over the Easter week 12,000 people paid to see him, while only 133 visited Haydon's exhibition. This equates to a hundred fold more visitors for Tom Thumb over Haydon.
The artist's difficulties increased to such an extent that, whilst employed on his last grand effort, Alfred and the Trial by Jury, overcome by debts of over £3,000, disappointment, and ingratitude, he wrote "Stretch me no longer on this rough world," and attempted suicide by shooting himself. The bullet failed to kill him, and he finished the task by cutting his throat. He left a widow and three surviving children, who were generously supported by Haydon's friends, including Sir Robert Peel, the Count d'Orsay, Thomas Talfourd, and Lord Carlisle. A resident of Paddington, he was buried just to the north-west of the grave of Sarah Siddons at St Mary's Church, Paddington, London. The cemetery was converted to a park, St Mary's Gardens, in 1885. Haydon's is one of the few preserved stones. It is modest and eroded but his name is still just legible. More on Benjamin Haydon
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