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John Hamilton Mortimer
John Hamilton Mortimer

John Hamilton Mortimer

English, 1740-1779
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John Hamilton Mortimer was a British figure and landscape painter and printmaker, known for romantic paintings set in Italy, works depicting conversations, and works drawn in the 1770s portraying war scenes, similar to those of Salvator Rosa.

Mortimer became President of the Society of Artists in 1774, five years before his death at age 39.

Mortimer was born on 17 September 1740 at Eastbourne. His father, Thomas Mortimer, was a customs officer, a dealer in flour and owner of several mills. By 1757, while he was still young, Mortimer was studying in London at the Duke of Richmond's Academy. During this time he became a friend of Joseph Wright, a fellow student at the Academy - a friendship which would endure throughout Mortimer's life. Mortimer is also known to have had some professional relationship with the artist Samuel Ireland, who was involved with etching his work. At the St Martin's Lane Academy his fellow students included Thomas Jones and William Pars. Mortimer also studied under Cipriani, Robert Edge Pine, and Sir Joshua Reynolds.
In 1759, Mortimer won a first prize for a study after Michelangelo's Bacchus and a second prize for a life drawing. He began to exhibit his works on a regular basis in the early 1760s, becoming an active member of the Society of Artists, which awarded him prizes for paintings of subjects from British history in 1763 and 1764. The second of these prizes was for a picture entitled St Paul Preaching to the Ancient Druids in Britain (now in the Guildhall in High Wycombe). He became president of the society in 1774.

Mortimer painted the figures for several paintings by Thomas Jones, working on the Welsh artist's A Land Storm, with the Story of Dido and Aeneas (1769), The Death of Orpheus (c.1770) and a pair of paintings based on Milton's Allegro and Penseroso, commissioned by Benjamin Bates (1774).

In the 1770s Mortimer was associated with more masculine, and criminal, presentation of the male form after a period of more effete images. His painting Sir Arthegal, the Knight of Justice, with Talus, the Iron Man is used as an example of this style. He was inspired by both the work and the legend of the life of the seventeenth-century Neapolitan painter, Salvator Rosa, who it was claimed, had been brought up by bandits. Mortimer first exhibited a painting of a bandit subject in 1772, and later made an etching after Rosa'a self-portrait.

From 1770 to 1773 he was engaged in the decoration of the saloon at Brocket Hall, Hertfordshire, where he was assisted by Thomas Jones, Francis Wheatley, James Durno, and Burnaby Mayor

In 1775 he married Jane Hurrel, which affected his artistic productivity.

Owing to his membership of the Society of Artists, Mortimer did not exhibit at the Royal Academy until 1778, when he showed five works, including Sir Arthegel and three scenes with Italian bandits. On 2 November of the same year he was elected an Associate of the Royal Academy.

He died of undocumented causes on 4 February 1779.

151 items

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Banditti on the lookout

Banditti on the lookout (1778)

John Hamilton Mortimer (English, 1740-1779)
Illustration
Banditti taking his post

Banditti taking his post (1778)

John Hamilton Mortimer (English, 1740-1779)
Illustration
Tragedy

Tragedy (1778)

John Hamilton Mortimer (English, 1740-1779)
Illustration
Successful Monster

Successful Monster (1778)

John Hamilton Mortimer (English, 1740-1779)
Illustration
Salvator Rosa

Salvator Rosa (1778)

John Hamilton Mortimer (English, 1740-1779)
Illustration
Reposa

Reposa (1778)

John Hamilton Mortimer (English, 1740-1779)
Illustration
Pastoral

Pastoral (1778)

John Hamilton Mortimer (English, 1740-1779)
Illustration
Musical Monster

Musical Monster (1778)

John Hamilton Mortimer (English, 1740-1779)
Illustration
Jealous Monster

Jealous Monster (1778)

John Hamilton Mortimer (English, 1740-1779)
Illustration
Gerard de Lairesse

Gerard de Lairesse (1778)

John Hamilton Mortimer (English, 1740-1779)
Illustration
Enraged Monster

Enraged Monster (1778)

John Hamilton Mortimer (English, 1740-1779)
Illustration
Elegy

Elegy (1778)

John Hamilton Mortimer (English, 1740-1779)
Illustration
Comedy

Comedy (1778)

John Hamilton Mortimer (English, 1740-1779)
Illustration
Captain of Banditti sending out a party

Captain of Banditti sending out a party (1778)

John Hamilton Mortimer (English, 1740-1779)
Illustration
A Caricature Group

A Caricature Group (ca. 1766)

John Hamilton Mortimer (English, 1740-1779)
Figurative
Jack Broughton, The Boxer

Jack Broughton, The Boxer (ca. 1767)

John Hamilton Mortimer (English, 1740-1779)
Figurative
Mrs. Lushington

Mrs. Lushington (1774)

John Hamilton Mortimer (English, 1740-1779)
Figurative
Portrait Of A Man And A Boy Looking At Prints

Portrait Of A Man And A Boy Looking At Prints (1765 and 1770)

John Hamilton Mortimer (English, 1740-1779)
Figurative
Self-Portrait With His Father And His Brother

Self-Portrait With His Father And His Brother (early 1760s)

John Hamilton Mortimer (English, 1740-1779)
Figurative
Thomas Le Blanc

Thomas Le Blanc (ca. 1767)

John Hamilton Mortimer (English, 1740-1779)
Figurative
West Gate of Pevensey Castle, Sussex

West Gate of Pevensey Castle, Sussex ( 1773 - 1774)

John Hamilton Mortimer (English, 1740-1779)
Landscape
Bandit Taking up His Post

Bandit Taking up His Post (between 1773 and 1779)

John Hamilton Mortimer (English, 1740-1779)
Figurative
Bardolph

Bardolph (1775 or 1776)

John Hamilton Mortimer (English, 1740-1779)
Figurative
A Young Man with his Indian Servant Holding a Portfolio

A Young Man with his Indian Servant Holding a Portfolio (ca. 1765)

John Hamilton Mortimer (English, 1740-1779)
Figurative
An Unknown Woman

An Unknown Woman (1770)

John Hamilton Mortimer (English, 1740-1779)
Figurative
Bardolph, from Henry IV, Act II, Scene 9

Bardolph, from Henry IV, Act II, Scene 9

John Hamilton Mortimer (English, 1740-1779)
Illustration
Beatrice, from Much Ado About Nothing, Act 1, Scene 2

Beatrice, from Much Ado About Nothing, Act 1, Scene 2

John Hamilton Mortimer (English, 1740-1779)
Illustration
Caliban, from The Tempest

Caliban, from The Tempest (1775)

John Hamilton Mortimer (English, 1740-1779)
Illustration
Cassandra, from Troilus and Cressida, Act II, Scene 4

Cassandra, from Troilus and Cressida, Act II, Scene 4

John Hamilton Mortimer (English, 1740-1779)
Illustration
Edgar, from King Lear, Act III, Scene iii

Edgar, from King Lear, Act III, Scene iii

John Hamilton Mortimer (English, 1740-1779)
Illustration
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