Hugh Howard (7 February 1675 – 17 March 1737) was a portrait-painter and collector of works of art from Dublin.

Biography

Hugh Howard was born in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

on 7 February 1675. He was the eldest son of Ralph Howard of Shelton,

county Wicklow County Wicklow ( ; ga, Contae Chill Mhantáin ) is a county in Ireland. The last of the traditional 32 counties, having been formed as late as 1606, it is part of the Eastern and Midland Region and the province of Leinster. It is bordered by t ...

. He came with his father to England in 1688, and showing a taste for painting joined in 1697 the suite of Thomas Herbert, eighth earl of Pembroke, one of the plenipotentiaries for the treaty of Ryswyck, on a journey through Holland to Italy. Howard remained in

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

about three years studying with

Carlo Maratti Carlo Maratta or Maratti (13 May 162515 December 1713) was an Italian painter, active mostly in Rome, and known principally for his classicizing paintings executed in a Late Baroque Classical manner. Although he is part of the classical tradition ...

who has been described as the last painter in the

Raphael 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. List of works by Raphael, His work is admired for its clarity of form, ease of ...

tradition. Howard returning to the British Isles in October 1700 and he then resided in Dublin. Howard settled in London eventually, where he practised for some time as a portrait-painter. Howard was appointed to the sinecure post of

keeper of the state papers Keeper may refer to: People * Keeper (surname) * Archivist * Beekeeper * Gamekeeper * Gatekeeper * Greenkeeper * Keeper of the Privy Purse * Keeper of the Royal Archives * Legal guardian * Lighthouse keeper * Museum curator * Prison warden * ...

, and then paymaster of the works belonging to the crown. He was thus enabled to relinquish painting as a profession. Howard was an exceptional student of the arts and he was to find a new application for his training. He was elected a

Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the judges of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural science, natural knowledge, incl ...

in November, 1696.

Art collecting

The salaries of his new jobs combined with his private income far outweighed his costs, and Howard invested in purchasing works of art: medals, drawings and prints. He also bought from the collections of

Sir Peter Lely Sir Peter Lely (14 September 1618 – 7 December 1680) was a painter of Dutch origin whose career was nearly all spent in England, where he became the dominant portrait painter to the court. Life Lely was born Pieter van der Faes to Dutch ...

and the

Earl of Arundel Earl of Arundel is a title of nobility in England, and one of the oldest extant in the English peerage. It is currently held by the Duke of Norfolk, and is used (along with the Earl of Surrey) by his heir apparent as a courtesy title. The e ...

. Of note with regard to his finances was his marriage in 1714 to Thomasine, heiress to General Thomas Langston. Howard executed a few etchings, including one of Padre Resta, the collector; twenty-one drawings by him, including a portrait of

Cardinal Albani Alessandro Albani (15 October 1692 – 11 December 1779) was a Roman Catholic cardinal, but should be best remembered as a leading collector of antiquities, dealer and art patron in Rome. He supported the art historian, Johann Joachim Winckelmann ...

, and some caricatures, are in the print room in the British Museum.

Matthew Prior Matthew Prior (21 July 1664 – 18 September 1721) was an English poet and diplomat. He is also known as a contributor to '' The Examiner''. Early life Prior was probably born in Middlesex. He was the son of a Nonconformist joiner at Wimborne ...

wrote a poem in his honour. Howard died in Pall Mall 17 March 1737, and was buried in the church at Richmond, Surrey. Howard inherited in 1728 part of Lord Chancellor West's library from his younger brother, William Howard, M.P. for Dublin. He left his collections to his only surviving brother,

Robert Howard Robert Howard may refer to: Entertainment * Robert Howard (playwright) (1626–1698), English playwright and politician * Robert Boardman Howard (1896–1983), American muralist and sculptor * Robert E. Howard (1906–1936), fantasy writer, crea ...

, Bishop of Elphin, who had them transported to Ireland. They remained in the possession of the latter's descendants, the Earls of Wicklow, until December 1873, when the fifth Earl sold the collection of prints and drawings. 1,488 prints of the eighteenth and seventeenth centuries found their way in 1874 into the British Museum's collection.Wallerant Vaillant, A Boy Drawing a Bust of the Emperor Vitellius, a mezzotint after a painting by Michiel Sweerts
British Museum. accessed May 2010

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Howard, Hugh 1737 deaths 1675 births Painters from Dublin (city) 17th-century Irish painters 18th-century Irish painters Irish male painters Fellows of the Royal Society Pupils of Carlo Maratta