13 Works, Today, May 16th. is John Opie's day, his story, illustrated with footnotes #134

John Opie  (1761–1807)

Damon and Musidora, from Thomson's Seasons - Summer (1727), between circa 1788 and circa 1802

Oil on canvas

Height: 124.5 cm (49 in); Width: 101.6 cm (40 in)

National Trust 

The paintings illustrate a scene from James Thomson's 1727 poem Summer in which a young man accidentally sees a young woman bathing naked, and is torn between his desire to look and his knowledge that he ought to look away. The scene was popular with English artists as it was one of the few legitimate pretexts to paint nudes at a time when the display and distribution of nude imagery was suppressed. More on this painting

John Opie RA (16 May 1761 – 9 April 1807) was a Cornish historical and portrait painter. He painted many great men and women of his day, including members of the British Royal Family, and others who were most notable in the artistic and literary professions.

Opie was born in Harmony Cottage, Trevellas. He showed a precocious talent for drawing and mathematics, and by the age of twelve he had mastered Euclid and opened an evening school for poor children where he taught reading, writing and arithmetic. His father, however, did not encourage his abilities, and apprenticed him to his own trade of carpentry.

John Opie, 1761-1807

Timon (fragment of 'Timon of Athens')

Oil on canvas

121 x 94 cms | 47 1/2 x 37 ins

Bolton Museum and Art Gallery

Timon of Athens is a play written in about 1606. Timon lavishes his wealth on parasitic companions until he is poor and rejected by them. He rejects mankind and goes to live in a cave.

The earliest-known production of the play was in 1674, when Thomas Shadwell wrote an adaptation under the title The History of Timon of Athens, The Man-hater. Multiple other adaptations followed over the next century. The straight Shakespearean text was performed at Smock Alley in Dublin in 1761, but adaptations continued to dominate the stage until well into the 20th century. More on Timon of Athens

John Opie, 1761-1807

Shakespeare, Timon of Athens

Hand-coloured engraving,

52 x 64cm

Private collection

Opie's artistic abilities eventually came to the attention of local physician and satirist, Dr John Wolcot (Peter Pindar). Recognising a great talent, Wolcot became Opie's mentor, buying him out of his apprenticeship and insisting that he come to live at his home in Truro. Wolcot provided invaluable encouragement, advice, tuition and practical help in the advancement of his early career, including obtaining many commissions for work.

John Opie, 1761-1807

A Gentleman and a Miner (Captain Morcom and Thomas Daniell), c. 1786

Oil on canvas

99.5 x 112 cms | 39 x 44 ins

Royal Cornwall Museum

This painting shows Captian Morcom and Thomas Daniell with a specimen of copper ore, possibly with Wheal Towan in the background. Thomas Daniell of Truro was a leading adventurer in Cornish mines. He was also chief clerk to William Lemon and after Lemon's death built the Mansion House in Truro with a gift of Bath stone from Ralph Allen of Prior Park in Bath. Ralph Allen's niece and heiress was Elizabeth Elliot who married Thomas Daniell in 1754. The other figure is Captain Morcom, a mining captain, who in 1793 with Richard Trevithick made trials of pumping engines at Seal Hole Mine in St Agnes. More on this painting

In 1781, having gained considerable experience as a portraitist travelling around Cornwall, Opie moved to London with Wolcot. There they lived together, having entered into a formal profit-sharing agreement. The business arrangement with Wolcot lasted for a year, after which Opie informed the doctor that he now wished to go it alone, leading to the estrangement of the two former partners.

John Opie (1761–1807)

Gil Blas Taking the Key from Dame Leonarda in the Cavern of the Banditti

Oil on canvas

H 205 x W 132 cm

Maidstone Museum & Bentlif Art Gallery

A scene from Gil Blas, a novel by Alain-Rene Lesage (1668–1747) which was popular in the late 18th century. The painting depicts the hero Gil Blas, who has been abducted by a highwayman and imprisoned in a cave where he is guarded by Dame Leonarda. Opie has painted a scene showing his getaway, aided by Donna Mencia holding a torch. More on this painting

John Opie, R.A. (St. Agnes, Cornwall 1761-1807 London)

Gil Blas binding Dame Leonarda with cords in the cavern of the banditti

Oil on canvas

208 x 136 cms | 81 3/4 x 53 1/2 ins

The Box, Plymouth | United Kingdom

Gil Blas, or L'Histoire de Gil Blas de Santillane, by Alain-René Lesage (1668-1747), was written between 1715 and 1735, and considered one of the great masterpieces of the picaresque genre. Admired in its day for its satirical commentary on society, it was referred to by Jonathan Swift in his comic Directions to Servants, and by the latter 18th century was a staple text for men of literary and artistic taste.

After his abduction by banditti and subsequent imprisonment, Gil Blas escapes by wrestling the key from the old guard, Dame Leonarda. Opie depicts the moment when the protagonist, watched by the torch-bearing figure of Donna Mencia, binds the cords of his captor in the dimly-lit cavern. Another work by Opie of similar dimensions, exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1804 and now in the Maidstone Museum and Bentlif Art Gallery, Kent, shows the drama that immediately precedes this scene; Gil Blas struggles with Leonarda for the key whilst threatening her with his sword (See above). More on this painting

Through the influence of a Mrs Boscawen, Wolcot managed to have Opie introduced at the court of King George III. The king purchased one of his pictures and commissioned him to produce a portrait of Mary Delany. He also received commissions to paint the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester, Lady Salisbury, Lady Charlotte Talbot, Lady Harcourt and other ladies of the court. Opie's residence was said to be "crowded with rank and fashion every day" and he was the talk of the town. In 1782 he first exhibited at the Royal Academy and in December of that year was married to Mary Bunn. The match, however, proved to be an unhappy one and they were eventually divorced in 1796 after her elopement.

Follower John Opie

Portrait of a girl, en decolleté, reclining and wearing a pink ribbon on her cap

Oil on canvas

64 x 77cm; 25 x 30¼in 

Private collection

Opie's work, after an initial burst of popularity, rapidly fell out of fashion. In response to this he began to work on improving his technique, while at the same time seeking to supplement his early education by the study of Latin, French and English literature, and to polish his provincial manners by mixing in cultivated and learned circles. 

John Opie  (1761–1807)

The Murder of David Rizzio, c. 1787

Oil painting

(H × W) 102.5 × 163.3 cm

Guildhall Art Gallery 

David Rizzio was an Italian courtier, born close to Turin, a descendant of an ancient and noble family still living in Piedmont, the Riccio Counts di San Paolo e Solbrito, who rose to become the private secretary of Mary, Queen of Scots. Mary's husband, Lord Darnley, is said to have been jealous of their friendship because of rumours that Rizzio had impregnated Mary, and he joined in a conspiracy of Protestant nobles to murder him, led by Patrick Ruthven, 3rd Lord Ruthven. Mary was having dinner with Rizzio and a few ladies-in-waiting when Darnley joined them, accused his wife of adultery and then had a group murder Rizzio, who was hiding behind Mary. Mary was held at gunpoint and Rizzio was stabbed numerous times. His body took 57 dagger wounds. The murder was the catalyst of the downfall of Darnley, and had serious consequences for Mary's subsequent reign. More on David Rizzio

There are at least 3 versions of this painting, two versions are kept at the National Gallery of Scotland in Edinburgh and a third version at the Guildhall Art Gallery

John Opie  (1761–1807)

The Assassination of David Rizzio

Oil on canvas

15 3/4 × 19 1/2 in.(40.0 × 49.5 cm)

Private collection

This oil sketch is an early study for the latter painting (See above), perhaps done as early as 1785, before Opie settled upon the nearly-square format of the finished works. As noted by Opie's biographer, John Wilson, it was on the strength of these two pictures that Opie was elected to the Royal Academy in 1787. More on this painting

In 1786 he exhibited his first important historical subject, the Assassination of James I (destroyed), and in the following year the Murder of Rizzio (See above), a work whose merit was recognized by his immediate election as associate of the Royal Academy, of which he became a full member in 1788. 

John Opie, RA (St Agnes 1761 – London 1807)

Amelia Alderson, Mrs. John Opie (1769-1853), c. 1799

Oil on canvas

635 x 908 mm (25 x 35 3/4 in)

Trerice, Cornwall (Accredited Museum)

Amelia Alderson, Mrs John Opie (1769-1853) by John Opie, RA (St Agnes 1761 – London 1807), 1799. A double half-length portrait of Opie's second wife, that on the left is facing, in white dress; that on the right a bust in profile to the left, in black dress, holding a mandolin. It was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1799, a year after they married, and an observer noted in the Whitehall Evening Post, 27 April 1799 the portrait of Mrs Opie 'who is painted in the same canvass in two points of view. More on this painting

He painted five subjects for John Boydell's Shakespeare Gallery; and until his death, his practice alternated between portraiture and historical work. In May 1798 he married Amelia Alderson, and this proved a happy marriage lasing for Opie's last nine years of life.

John Opie (1761–1807)

The Death of Archbishop Sharpe, c. 1797

Oil on canvas

H 224.8 x W 174 cm

Wardlaw Museum

James Sharp, was made Archbishop of St Andrews and Chancellor of the University of St Andrews in 1661.

The painting depicts his assassination by a group of Presbyterian Fife Lairds in 1679, an event of key importance in the turbulent history of conflict between church and government in Scotland in the 17th century. Sharp was a former Presbyterian minister whose appointment as Archbishop was seen as a betrayal by most Presbyterians. It sparked the so-called 'Killing Time' of sectarian violence between Covenanters (extremist Presbyterians) and government troopers charged with enforcing Episcopalian rule. More on this painting

Opie painted many notable men and women including Mary Wollstonecraft, Samuel Johnson, Francesco Bartolozzi, John Bannister, Joseph Munden, Charles James Fox, William Betty, Edmund Burke, John Crome, James Northcote, Henry Fuseli, Thomas Girtin, Robert Southey, Samuel Parr, Elizabeth Inchbald and Mary Shelley; 508 portraits in all, mostly in oil, and 252 other pictures.

John Opie, 1761-1807

Murder of Thomas Becket in Canterbury Cathedral

Oil on canvas

221 x 171.5 cms | 87 x 67 1/2 ins

Canterbury Museums and Galleries

Becket was one of the most powerful figures of his time, serving as royal Chancellor and later as Archbishop of Canterbury. Initially a close friend of King Henry II, the two men became engaged in a bitter dispute that culminated in Becket’s shocking murder by knights with close ties to the king. It is a story of the perceived abuse of power and those who fall for standing in the way of the Crown. More on the Murder of Thomas Becket

In 1805, Opie was appointed a Professor at the Royal Academy and from May 1806 gave a series of four lectures which were published as a book after his death, with a memoir by his widow Amelia Opie, in 1809. His students at the Academy included Henry Thomson. Opie was also known as a writer on art by his Life of Reynolds in Wolcot's edition of Matthew Pilkington's Dictionary of Painters and his Letter on the Cultivation of the Fine Arts in England, in which he advocated the formation of a national gallery.

John Opie, 1761-1807

Boadicea Haranguing the Britons

Oil on canvas

I have no further description, at this time

The painting is an 18th century imagining of how Boadicea may have looked like, which is the depicted style of dress is not representative of how ancient Briton women dressed. She was described as being large, with a harsh voice and bright red hair that fell to her knees. When she grasped her spear, everyone knew fear. She was also the basis for more than a few archetypes of powerful female Celtic warriors who have appeared in popular culture. 

Boudicca was the queen of the Celtic Iceni tribe of Britain, who led a famous rebellion against the Romans around 60 CE. While her name would strike both fear and fascination in Roman imaginations, we actually know very little about her. There are only two Roman sources which describe her, written by Roman scholars Tacitus and Dio Cassius. Still, her name has endured as a scourge of Rome, symbol of Celtic pride, and international hero of redheads. More on this painting

Opie died in April 1807, aged 46, at his home in Berners Street, and was buried at St Paul's Cathedral, in the crypt next to Joshua Reynolds, as he had wished. He had no children. More on John Opie

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