George Clint (12 April 1770 – 10 May 1854) was an English
portrait painter and
engraver, especially notable for his many theatrical subjects.
Life
Clint was born in Brownlow Street,
Drury Lane
Drury Lane is a street on the eastern boundary of the Covent Garden area of London, running between Aldwych and High Holborn. The northern part is in the borough of Camden and the southern part in the City of Westminster.
Notable landmarks ...
,
Covent Garden
Covent Garden is a district in London, on the eastern fringes of the West End, between St Martin's Lane and Drury Lane. It is associated with the former fruit-and-vegetable market in the central square, now a popular shopping and tourist si ...
,
London, the son of Michael Clint, a hairdresser in
Lombard Street. He went to school in
Yorkshire and was then apprenticed to a
fishmonger, but left after a violent dispute with his employer. He found alternative employment in an attorney's office, but took exception to the work and became a house-painter instead - one of his jobs was painting the stones of the arches in the nave of
Westminster Abbey. He also decorated the exterior of a house built by Sir
Christopher Wren
Sir Christopher Wren PRS FRS (; – ) was one of the most highly acclaimed English architects in history, as well as an anatomist, astronomer, geometer, and mathematician-physicist. He was accorded responsibility for rebuilding 52 churches ...
in
Cheapside, and was later employed by the bookseller
Thomas Tegg.
He married the daughter of a small farmer in Berkshire; they had five sons and four daughters. His wife died a fortnight after giving birth to their son
Alfred
Alfred may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
*''Alfred J. Kwak'', Dutch-German-Japanese anime television series
* ''Alfred'' (Arne opera), a 1740 masque by Thomas Arne
* ''Alfred'' (Dvořák), an 1870 opera by Antonín Dvořák
*"Alfred (Interlu ...
, who also became an artist.
Clint took up
miniature
A miniature is a small-scale reproduction, or a small version. It may refer to:
* Portrait miniature, a miniature portrait painting
* Miniature art, miniature painting, engraving and sculpture
* Miniature (chess), a masterful chess game or problem ...
painting. He had a studio in
Leadenhall Street
__NOTOC__
Leadenhall Street () is a street in the City of London. It is about and links Cornhill, London, Cornhill in the west to Aldgate in the east. It was formerly the start of the A11 road (England), A11 road from London to Norwich, but th ...
, and he became acquainted with the publisher
John Bell, whose nephew, the mezzotint engraver
Edward Bell, taught Clint the art of engraving. His first in oil painting was a portrait of his wife. At this period
Samuel Reynolds, the engraver, advised him to undertake
watercolour portraits. Commissions proving scarce, he made copies, in colour, from prints after
George Morland
George Morland (26 June 176329 October 1804) was an English painter. His early work was influenced by Francis Wheatley, but after the 1790s he came into his own style. His best compositions focus on rustic scenes: farms and hunting; smugglers a ...
and
Teniers Teniers is a Dutch language surname. It may refer to:
*Abraham Teniers (1629–1670), Flemish painter
*David Teniers the Elder
David Teniers the Elder (158229 July 1649), Flemish painter, was born at Antwerp.
Biography
Having received his fi ...
; he reproduced
Morland's ''The Enraged Bull'' and ''The Horse struck by Lightning'' several times.
Around 1816, his studio at 83
Gower Street, was a meeting place of the leading actors and actresses of the day. This popularity arose from a series of dramatic scenes which he painted, such as "
William Farren, Farley, and Jones as Lord Ogleby, Canton, and Brush" in the comedy ''
The Clandestine Marriage''.
Clint was elected an associate of the
Royal Academy
The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly in London. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its pur ...
in 1821, a position he resigned in 1836, after repeated disappointments in not being made a full academician. He subsequently took a house in
Peckham
Peckham () is a district in southeast London, within the London Borough of Southwark. It is south-east of Charing Cross. At the United Kingdom Census 2001, 2001 Census the Peckham ward had a population of 14,720.
History
"Peckham" is a Saxon p ...
, but moved to
Pembroke Square, where he died on 10 May 1864.
Works
He painted portraits of Lord Suffield and his family, Lord Egremont, Lord Essex, Lord Spencer, General Wyndham, and many others. He executed several theatrical portraits for a Mrs. Griffiths of Norwood, some of which were destroyed by fire. His ''Falstaff and Mistress Ford'' is in the
Tate Gallery.
His early engravings include ''The Frightened Horse'', after
George Stubbs; ''The Entombment'', after
Dietrich
Dietrich () is an ancient German name meaning "Ruler of the People.” Also "keeper of the keys" or a "lockpick" either the tool or the profession.
Given name
* Dietrich, Count of Oldenburg (c. 1398 – 1440)
* Thierry of Alsace (german: Dietr ...
; ''The Death of Nelson'', after
Samuel Drummond
Samuel Drummond (25 December 1766, London – 6 August 1844, London) was a British painter, especially prolific in portrait and marine genre painting. His works are on display in the National Portrait Gallery, the National Maritime Museum and ...
, and a set of the
Raphael cartoons in outline. His
mezzotints included ''The Trial of Queen Caroline'', after
George Henry Harlow
George Henry Harlow (10 June 1787 – 4 February 1819) was an English painter known mostly for his portraits.
Life
Harlow was born in St. James's Street, London, the posthumous son of a China merchant, who after some years' residence in ...
; a portrait of the William Pitt, after
John Hoppner; a portrait of Margaret, Lady Dundas, after
Thomas Lawrence; a portrait of Miss Siddons, again after Lawrence, and a print after a self-portrait by Sir Joshua Reynolds. There are also portraits of the engraver George Cook; the publisher John Bell; the actors
Edmund Kean,
Charles Young
Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English and French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''*karilaz'' (in Latin alphabet), whose meaning was " ...
(as Hamlet),
William Dowton
William Dowton (1764–1851) was a British actor.
Early life
Dowton, the son of an innkeeper and grocer at Exeter, was born in that city on 25 April 1764. At an early age he worked with a marble cutter, but in 1780 was articled to an archite ...
and
John Liston (the latter as
Paul Pry) and the actresses
Lucia Elizabeth Vestris
Lucia Elizabeth Vestris (''née'' Elizabetta Lucia Bartolozzi; 3 March 1797 – 8 August 1856) was an English actress and a contralto opera singer, appearing in works by, among others, Mozart and Rossini. While popular in her time, she was more ...
and
Julia Glover
Julia Betterton Glover (8 January 1779 – 16 July 1850) was an Irish-born stage actress well known for her comic roles in the late 18th and 19th centuries.
Biography
Glover was born Julia Butterton in 1779
or 1781 in Newry, Ireland.
In Lo ...
.
Family
One of Clint's sons,
Scipio Clint
Scipio Clint (1805–1839) was an English medallist and seal- engraver.
Life
He was the son of George Clint, A.R.A., the portrait-painter and engraver. He gained a medal at the Society of Arts in 1824. He exhibited at the Royal Academy for t ...
, was a notable
medallist
A medalist (or medallist) is an artist who designs medals, plaquettes, badges, metal medallions, coins and similar small works in relief in metal. Historically, medalists were typically also involved in producing their designs, and were usually e ...
and
seal engraver.
Of his other sons
Raphael Clint
Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino, better known as Raphael (; or ; March 28 or April 6, 1483April 6, 1520), was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. His work is admired for its clarity of form, ease of composition, and visual a ...
(1797–1849) was an
engraver and
Alfred Clint (1807–1833) a
marine painter
Marine art or maritime art is a form of figurative art (that is, painting, drawing, printmaking and sculpture) that portrays or draws its main inspiration from the sea. Maritime painting is a genre that depicts ships and the sea—a genre part ...
.
References
Further reading
*Bryan, Michael.
Bryan's dictionary of painters and engravers, volume 1' (New York: Macmillan, 1903), p303.
External links
*
Works by George Clint at the National Portrait Gallery, LondonEngravings by Clint on Grosvenor Prints"*
ttp://www.racollection.org.uk/ixbin/indexplus?_IXACTION_=file&_IXFILE_=templates/full/person.html&_IXTRAIL_=Academicians&person=5579 Profile on Royal Academy of Arts Collectionsbr>
Portrait of a Gentleman(Oil on canvas -
Christie's
Christie's is a British auction house founded in 1766 by James Christie (auctioneer), James Christie. Its main premises are on King Street, St James's in London, at Rockefeller Center in New York City and at Alexandra House in Hong Kong. It is ...
)
Portrait of Colonel John Edmund Harvey(oil on canvas, 1844)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Clint, George
18th-century English painters
English male painters
19th-century English painters
English watercolourists
English engravers
English portrait painters
Portrait miniaturists
1770 births
1854 deaths
People from Covent Garden
Associates of the Royal Academy
19th-century English male artists
18th-century English male artists