William Hilton (1786-1839)
Preparatory study for "Massacre of the Innocents"
Oil on canvas
4.5ins x 14ins
Private collection
The Massacre of the Innocents is the incident in the nativity narrative of the Gospel of Matthew in which Herod the Great, king of Judea, orders the execution of all male children two years old and under in the vicinity of Bethlehem. The Catholic Church regards them as the first Christian martyrs. A majority of Herod biographers, and "probably a majority of biblical scholars," hold the event to be myth, legend or folklore. The Massacre of the Innocents
William Hilton RA (3 June 1786 – 30 December 1839), was a British portrait and history painter.
William Hilton (1786–1839)
The Triumph of the Duke of Wellington, c. 1817
Height: 97.2 cm (38.2 in); Width: 154 cm (60.6 in)
Rhode Island School of Design Museum
Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington (1 May 1769 – 14 September 1852) was an Anglo-Irish soldier and Tory statesman who was one of the leading military and political figures of 19th-century Britain, serving twice as prime minister. He ended the Napoleonic Wars when he defeated Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815. More on the Duke of Wellington
William Hilton the Younger 1786–1839
Nature Blowing Bubbles for her Children, exhibited 1821
Oil paint on canvas
1727 × 2324 mm
Tate
Hilton was born in the gatehouse of the Vicar's Court in The Close, Lincoln, England, a son of Mary and William Hilton the elder, a portrait painter and scenery painter for the Miller's and later Robertson Theatre companies). William initially worked with his father. The company toured the Lincoln Theatre Circuit, young William was encouraged by theatre proprietor Fanny Robertson to pursue a career as an artist. After he rose to become a Royal Academician he painted her. She retired to live near the Georgian Theatre (now Angles Theatre in Wisbech), and his painting of Fanny in the role of "Beatrice", was in 1866 in the nearby Wisbech Working Men's Institute.
William Hilton (1786–1839)
After Joseph Severn, based on a work of circa 1822
John Keats, circa 1822
Oil on canvas
Height: 76.2 cm (30 in); Width: 63.5 cm (25 in)
National Portrait Gallery
He is also known as "William Hilton the Younger". Although he is best known today for simple portraits of the poets John Keats and John Clare, he was successful in his lifetime with huge history paintings in the "Grand Manner", which have not benefited from the revival of interest in 19th-century British Academic art, and unlikely to be on display in the museums that own them.
William Hilton (1786–1839)
The Birth of Triton
Oil on canvas
H 137 x W 127.5 cm
Usher Gallery
Triton is a mythological Greek god, the messenger of the sea. He is the son of Poseidon and Amphitrite, god and goddess of the sea respectively, and is herald for his father. He is usually represented as a merman, having the upper body of a human and the tail of a fish.
Like his father, Poseidon, he carried a trident. However, Triton's special attribute was a twisted conch shell, on which he blew like a trumpet to calm or raise the waves. Its sound was such a cacophony, that when loudly blown, it put the giants to flight, who imagined it to be the roar of a dark wild beast.
Triton was the father of Pallas and foster parent to the goddess Athena. Triton can sometimes be multiplied into a host of Tritones, daimones of the sea. More on Triton
William Hilton the Younger 1786–1839
Diana at the Bath, c.1820
Oil paint on wood
216 × 178 mm
Tate
William Hilton (1786–1839)
The Mermaid of Galloway
Oil on canvas
H 122 x W 101.6 cm
Tabley House
In the 1810s Sir John Leicester was intrigued by a poem published by Robert Hartley Cromek, which told one version of the tale of the mermaid. Leicester commissioned the artist William Hilton to commit the story to canvas.
According to the folklore of the Scottish Lowlands, the mermaids were a race of goddesses who had become corrupted with earthly desire. Their beauty was such that the heart of any man who viewed their faces would be filled with unquenchable desire. They would select a man of ‘exalted virtue and rare endowments’ and then woo him with their siren like voices.
In this painting we see the moment a young man falls prey to the charms of the mermaid. Her arms are raised above her head; one hand combs her long curly locks of burning gold whilst the other tries to tear them out. Her eyes meet his and, despite his evident youth and strength, he quickly succumbs to her powers. Above them, a storm rages. More on this painting
William Hilton the Younger 1786–1839
Cupid and Nymph, exhibited 1828
Oil paint on canvas
724 × 889 mm
Tate
A Cherub, fairly interchangeably with Putti, Cupid, Eros, and Amorini is a winged infant child popular in Greek and Roman art. Usually male, and often one will appear in Greek art as a little Eros accompanying Aphrodite, sometimes Bacchanalian. The Roman version is a Cupid, son of Venus, goddess of Love, and herself the Roman equivalent of Aphrodite. After Classical times, they were not so popular, in sculpture at least, until Renaissance times when they returned in force as a recognised part of Christian art, sometimes indicating a young angel, often musical, but generally decorative rather than greatly symbolic of anything in particular. They were again revived in the 19th Century, lasting through Edwardian times before going into sharp decline after World War I. Allegorically, if not religious, our 19th and early 20th Century Cherubs or Putti may be linked with Love, or reflecting various of the normal grown-up allegorical statues.
More on Cupid
A nymph in Greek and Latin mythology is a minor female nature deity typically associated with a particular location or landform. Different from other goddesses, nymphs are generally regarded as divine spirits who animate nature, and are usually depicted as beautiful, young nubile maidens who love to dance and sing; their amorous freedom sets them apart from the restricted and chaste wives and daughters of the Greek polis. They are beloved by many and dwell in mountainous regions and forests by lakes and streams. Although they would never die of old age nor illness, and could give birth to fully immortal children if mated to a god, they themselves were not necessarily immortal, and could be beholden to death in various forms. More on nymphs
William Hilton (1786–1839)
Cupid Armed
Oil on board
H 30.5 x W 26.5 cm
Usher Gallery
William Hilton (1786–1839)
Una and the Satyrs
Oil on canvas
H 157.5 x W 240 cm
Usher Gallery
While satyrs usually get a pretty bad reputation in Classical mythology, the satyrs in the Faerie Queene come off relatively well. They're pretty much benign and even help Una out when Sansloy is chasing her.
While they recognize Una's beauty and holiness—their leader Sylvanus is totally stunned—they mistakenly start to worship her instead of what she stands for, i.e. Christian belief and Jesus. By turning her into a literal manifestation of a goddess, they are making the mistake Christians believes all polytheistic religions made in worshipping objects they can see instead of Divine truth that they can't. Just to make sure you totally appreciate their silliness, once the satyrs stop worshipping Una they start worshipping her donkey. Una and the Satyrs
In 1800, Hilton was apprenticed to the engraver John Raphael Smith, and around the same time enrolled at the Royal Academy Schools. Another apprentice from 1802 was Peter De Wint, they were inseparable friends and lived together in Broad Street, Golden Square, De Wint married William's only sister Harriett. De Wint visited Hilton's home in Up-Hill, Lincoln and painted many of his landscapes in the district. In Lincoln cathedral is a cenotaph erected by Mrs De Wint in memory of the two artists - De Wint her husband, and Hilton, her brother. Hilton first exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1803, sending a Group of Banditti and soon established a reputation for choice of subject, and qualities of design and colour superior to the great mass of his contemporaries. He made a tour in Italy with Thomas Phillips, the portraitist.
William Hilton (1786–1839)
The Miracle of Saint Mark (after Jacopo Tintoretto (See below)), c. 1823
Oil on canvas
H 55 x W 78 cm
Usher Gallery
The subject of the canvas is the miraculous appearence of St Mark to rescue one of his devotees, a servant of a knight of Provence, who had been condemned to having his legs broken and his eyes put out for worshipping the relics of the saint against his master's will. The scenes takes place on a kind of proscenium which seems to force the action out of the painting towards the spectator who is thus involved in the amazement of the crowd standing in a semi-circle around the protagonists: the fore-shortened figure of the slave lying on the ground, the dumbfounded executioner holding aloft the broken implements of torture, the knight of Provence starting up from his seat out of the shadow into the light, while the figure of St Mark swoops down from above. More on this painting
Jacopo Tintoretto (1519–1594)
Miracle of the Slave, c. 1548
Oil on canvas
Height: 415 cm (13.6 ft); Width: 541 cm (17.7 ft)
Gallerie dell'Accademia, Venice
In keeping with the drama of the action is the tight construction of the painting, the dramatic fore-shortening of the forms and sudden strong contrast of light and shade.
William Hilton (1786–1839)
The Crucifixion (after Tintoretto (See below))
Oil on canvas
H 44 x W 75 cm
Usher Gallery
Crucifixion is a historical method of capital punishment in which the victim is tied or nailed to a large wooden beam and left to hang for several days until eventual death from exhaustion and asphyxiation. It is principally known from classical antiquity, but remains in occasional use in some countries.
The crucifixion of Jesus is a central narrative in Christianity, and the cross (sometimes depicting Jesus nailed onto it) is the main religious symbol for many Christian churches. More Crucifixion
Jacopo Tintoretto, Venezia, 1519 - 1594
Crucifixion, ca. 1555
Oil on canvas
280 x 444 cm
Gallerie dell'Accademia, Venice
Jacopo Tintoretto, Venezia, 1519 - 1594
Detail; Crucifixion, ca. 1555
Oil on canvas
280 x 444 cm
Gallerie dell'Accademia, Venice
The composition is teeming with figures, framed on the left by the centurion bearing the fluttering standard and to the right by the group of horsemen and soldiers playing dice, gambling for the robes of Christ. An extraordinary group of sketchily painted spindly figures stand out in the background, bathed in light. The canvas is characterised by a rich, brilliant chromaticism, with bright reds and blues, in all likelihood influenced by Paolo Veronese. More on this painting
Tintoretto; born Jacopo Comin, (October, 1518 – May 31, 1594) was an Italian painter and a notable exponent of the Renaissance school. For his phenomenal energy in painting he was termed Il Furioso. His work is characterized by its muscular figures, dramatic gestures, and bold use of perspective in the Mannerist style, while maintaining color and light typical of the Venetian School.
In his youth, Tintoretto was also known as Jacopo Robusti as his father had defended the gates of Padua in a way that others called robust, against the imperial troops during the War of the League of Cambrai (1509–1516). His real name "Comin" has only recently been discovered by Miguel Falomir, the curator of the Museo del Prado, Madrid, and was made public on the occasion of the retrospective of Tintoretto at the Prado in 2007. More on Tintoretto
William Hilton (1786–1839)
Samson and Delilah (after Anthony van Dyck (See below)), c.1810–1830
Oil on canvas
H 133.4 x W 198.1 cm
Victoria and Albert Museum
Samson is one of the last of the judges of the ancient Israelites mentioned in the Hebrew Bible. According to the biblical account, Samson was given supernatural strength by God in order to combat his enemies and perform heroic feats. Samson had two vulnerabilities—his attraction to untrustworthy women and his hair, without which he was powerless. These vulnerabilities ultimately proved fatal for him.
Samson eventually fell in love with a woman named Delilah. The Philistines bribed Delilah with 1,100 silver pieces from each of the Philistine leaders, to get her to figure out the secret of Samson's strength and tell them.
After asking him several times what the secret to his strength is: "Finally he disclosed to her all his heart and said to her: 'A razor has never come upon my head, because I am a Naz′i·rite of God from my mother’s belly. If I did get shaved, my power also would certainly depart from me, and I should indeed grow weak and become like all other men.'"
She relayed this to the Philistine axis lords, got Samson to fall asleep, and while he was sleeping, had his head shaved. The Philistines then took him captive, put out both his eyes, and made him their slave.
One day as they are having a great party to worship their false god Dagon, the Philistines bring Samson out so they can make fun of him. By that time, Samson's hair has grown out again. Samson has a young boy lead him to the pillars that hold the building up, prays to Jehovah for strength, takes hold of the pillars, and cries out: "Let my soul die with the Philistines."
There are 3,000 Philistines on the roof of the building alone, and many more inside (the axis lords are all there as well), and when Samson pushes against the pillars, the building falls down and kills all of them, including Samson. More on Samson and Delilah
Anthony van Dyck (1599–1641)
Samson and Delilah, c. 1628 - 1630
Oil on canvas
Height: 1,460 mm (57.48 in); Width: 2,540 mm (100 in)
Kunsthistorisches Museum
William Hilton (1786–1839)
Saint Peter, Martyr (after Titian (See below))
Oil on canvas
H 109 x W 76 cm
Usher Gallery
Peter of Verona (1206 – April 6, 1252), also known as Saint Peter Martyr, was a 13th-century Italian Catholic priest. He was a Dominican friar and a celebrated preacher. He served as Inquisitor in Lombardy, was killed by an assassin, and was canonized as a Catholic saint 11 months after his death, making this the fastest canonization in history. More on Saint Peter, Martyr
Tiziano Vecellio, or Titian (1488/1490 – 27 August 1576)
The Death of St Peter Martyr, c. 1527-29
Oil on canvas
500 x 306 cm
Basilica dei Santi Giovanni e Paolo, Venice
At the close of the 1520s, Titian completed what used to be considered one of his finest works, The Death of St Peter Martyr. Tragically, it was destroyed in 1867 by fire in the Chapel of Rosary, where the painting was deposited at the time of the fire. The painting presently displayed in the Basilica is an 18th-century copy by Niccolò Cassala. More on this painting
Tiziano Vecelli or Tiziano Vecellio, or Titian (1488/1490 – 27 August 1576), was an Italian painter, the most important member of the 16th-century Venetian school.
Recognized by his contemporaries as "The Sun Amidst Small Stars", Titian was one of the most versatile of Italian painters, equally adept with portraits, landscape backgrounds, and mythological and religious subjects. His painting methods, particularly in the application and use of color, would exercise a profound influence not only on painters of the Italian Renaissance, but on future generations of Western art.
During the course of his long life, Titian's artistic manner changed drastically but he retained a lifelong interest in color. Although his mature works may not contain the vivid, luminous tints of his early pieces, their loose brushwork and subtlety of tone are without precedent in the history of Western painting. More on Titian
In 1813, having exhibited "Miranda and Ferdinand with the Logs of Wood," he was elected as an associate of the Academy, and in 1820 as a full academician; his diploma-picture representing Ganymede. In 1823, he produced "Christ crowned with Thorns," a large and important work regarded as his masterpiece, subsequently bought as the first purchase of the Chantrey Fund in 1878. In 1827 he succeeded Henry Thomson as Keeper of the Royal Academy. Two of his works were bought by the British Institution for churches for £525 and £1050, but the failure of "Edith finding the Body of Harold" (1834) (See below) to make more than £200 marked the end of the taste for such works.
William Hilton the Younger 1786–1839
Editha and the Monks Searching for the Body of Harold, exhibited 1834
Oil paint on canvas
3340 × 2437 mm
Tate
Edith was the wife or consort of King Harold and was also known as ’Edith the Fair”. She is remembered in folklore as the person who identified Harold’s mutilated body following the battle of Hastings, fought on 14 October 1066, through love bites only she knew she had administered on the night before the fight. She is said to have offered her husband’s weight in gold to be allowed to give his corpse a Christian burial but the triumphant Normans refused her request, fearing that Harold’s burial place would become a rallying point for any future English resistance movements. More on this painting
In 1828 he was awarded the Freedom of Lincoln.
He died in London on 30 December 1839. He was buried in the family grave in the Savoy Chapel, destroyed by fire on 7 July 1864. The chapel was restored in 1866 and Mrs De Wint placed a beautiful font in the edifice. Close by a tablet bears the words: 'This font was presented to the Chapel Royal of the Savoy by Harriet De Wint, in place of a Monument previously erected to the memory of her brother William Hilton R.A. her husband Peter de Wint, and other members of her family, whose remains are interred in the adjoining cemetery. The Monument was destroyed by the fire, July VII., MDCCCLXIV. May this tribute be long preserved to the glory of God'.
William Hilton (1786–1839)
The Rape of Europa, c. 1818
Oil on canvas
H 145 x W 193 cm
National Trust, Petworth House
In Greek mythology Europa was the mother of King Minos of Crete, a woman with Phoenician origin of high lineage, and for whom the continent Europe was named. The story of her abduction by Zeus in the form of a white bull was a Cretan story; as classicist Károly Kerényi points out, "most of the love-stories concerning Zeus originated from more ancient tales describing his marriages with goddesses. This can especially be said of the story of Europa".
The mythographers tell that Zeus was enamored of Europa and decided to seduce or ravish her. He transformed himself into a tame white bull and mixed in with her father's herds. While Europa and her helpers were gathering flowers, she saw the bull, caressed his flanks, and eventually got onto his back. Zeus took that opportunity and ran to the sea and swam, with her on his back, to the island of Crete. He then revealed his true identity, and Europa became the first queen of Crete. More on Europa
In Lincoln Cathedral, a Cenotaph to the joint memory of Her husband and brother was erected by Mrs De Wint.[10] The following year an engraving by Charles Wass, of a portrait in chalk of Keats by Hilton was used in 'The Poetical works of John Keats' published by Taylor and Walton, London (1840)
Some of his best-regarded pictures include "Angel releasing Peter from Prison" (life-size), painted in 1831, "Una with the Lion entering Corceca's Cave" (1832), the "Murder of the Innocents," his last exhibited work (1838), "Comus" and "Amphitrite". The Tate Gallery now owns "Edith finding the Body of Harold" (1834), "Cupid Disarmed, Rebecca and Abraham's Servant" (1829), "Nature blowing Bubbles for her Children" (1821), and "Sir Calepine rescuing Serena" (from The Faerie Queene) (1831).[12] In the National Portrait Gallery is his likeness of John Keats, with whom he was acquainted. More on William Hilton
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