Jacob Thompson (28 August 1806 – 27 December 1879) was an English landscape painter.
Biography
Early years
Jacob Thompson, eldest son of Merrick Thompson, a manufacturer of linen check and a well-known member of the
Society of Friends, was born in Lanton Street,
Penrith,
Cumberland, on 28 August 1806. His father was then in prosperous circumstances, but the depression of trade caused by the War of 1812 brought about his failure. Young Thompson's aspirations to become an artist met with little sympathy from his family, and he was apprenticed to a house-painter; but he struggled with energy and perseverance against these adverse influences, and devoted all his leisure time to his favourite pursuit. He at length attracted the notice of
Lord Lonsdale
Earl of Lonsdale is a title that has been created twice in British history, firstly in the Peerage of Great Britain in 1784 (becoming extinct in 1802), and then in the Peerage of the United Kingdom in 1807, both times for members of the Low ...
, and with his help he came in 1829 to London with an introduction to Sir
Thomas Lawrence
Sir Thomas Lawrence (13 April 1769 – 7 January 1830) was an English portrait painter and the fourth president of the Royal Academy. A child prodigy, he was born in Bristol and began drawing in Devizes, where his father was an innkeeper at ...
(1769–1830), and became a student at the
British Museum
The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...
and the
Royal Academy.
Career
Thompson began to exhibit in 1824, when he had in the first exhibition of the
Society of British Artists
The Royal Society of British Artists (RBA) is a British art body established in 1823 as the Society of British Artists, as an alternative to the Royal Academy.
History
The RBA commenced with twenty-seven members, and took until 1876 to reach fif ...
a "View in Cumberland," but he did not send a picture to the Royal Academy until 1832, in which year appeared "The Druids Cutting Down the Mistletoe". This was followed in 1833 by a picture containing full-length portraits of the daughters of the Hon. Colonel Lowther. His next exhibit was "Harvest Home in the Fourteenth Century," which appeared at the
British Institution in 1837, and was presented by the artist to his patron, the Earl of Lonsdale. After this date he painted portraits, views of mansions, etc., but he did not exhibit again until 1847, when he sent to Westminster Hall "The Highland Ferry-Boat," which was engraved in line by
James Tibbits Willmore. "The Proposal" appeared at the Royal Academy in 1848; "The Highland Bride," likewise engraved by Willmore, in 1851; "Going to Church: Scene in the Highlands," in 1852; "The Hope Beyond," in 1853; "The Course of true Love never did run smooth," in 1854; "The Mountain Ramblers," in 1855; "Sunny Hours of Childhood" and "Looking out for the Homeward Bound," in 1856; and "The Pet Lamb," in 1857. He painted in 1858 "Crossing a Highland Loch," which was engraved by
Charles Mottram; but he did not again exhibit until 1860, when he sent to the Royal Academy "The Signal," which was engraved by
Charles Cousen for the ''Art Journal'' of 1862. In 1864, he had at the academy "The Height of Ambition," engraved by Charles Cousen for the ''Art Journal,'' as was likewise by J. C. Armytage "Drawing the Net at Hawes Water," painted in 1867 for
Lord Esher, but never exhibited. "Rush Bearing" and a view of Rydal Mount are among his best works.
Later years
In his later years, Thompson devoted himself chiefly to landscape subjects with figures, the themes of which were for the most part drawn from the mountains and lakes of Cumberland and Westmoreland, but occasionally from Scotland. His range, however, was limited, and his work was lacking in poetic sympathy. His attempts at classical and scriptural subjects, such as "Acis and Galatea," exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1849, and "Proserpine," were not a success. His last work was "Eldmuir, or Solitude."
Thompson was married twice; his first wife, Ann Parker Bidder, was a sister of
George Parker Bidder
George Parker Bidder (13 June 1806 – 20 September 1878) was an English engineer and calculating prodigy.W. W. Rouse Ball (1960) ''Calculating Prodigies'', in Mathematical Recreations and Essays, Macmillan, New York, chapter 13.
Early life
B ...
, the celebrated
calculating prodigy and
civil engineer. Thompson and his first wife had one son.
[ After his first wife died in 1844, Thompson remarried in 1850 to Elizabeth Varty.] Thompson died at the Hermitage—a cottage on the estate of Lord Lonsdale[—in ]Hackthorpe
Hackthorpe is a hamlet in the Eden district, in the county of Cumbria, England. Circa 1870, it had a population of 110 as recorded in the Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales.
Location
It is located on the A6 road just south of Lowther ...
, Cumberland, where he had lived in retirement for upwards of 40 years, on 27 December 1879. He was buried in the churchyard at St. Michael's Church in Lowther.
Legacy
''The Life and Works of Jacob Thompson'' (1882) by Llewellyn Jewitt includes a portrait of Thompson, drawn on wood by himself, and engraved by W. Ballingall, in the prefix.
In 1999, "The Highland Ferry-Boat" was sold at auction for £166,500 in Gleneagles, Scotland.
Penrith and Eden Museum
Penrith and Eden Museum is a museum in Penrith, Cumbria, England. The museum aims to collect, preserve and display material reflecting the history and culture of Penrith and Eden. The museum is owned and managed by Eden District Council. The ...
has works by Thompson on display, including "The Druids Cutting Down the Mistletoe", which shows figures in a wooded clearing in the Eden Valley with the Bronze Age
The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second prin ...
stone circle of Long Meg and Her Daughters, one of Eden’s iconic monuments and tourist destinations, clearly visible in the distance.
Gallery
Sources
*
References
External links
Jacob Thompson
page at The British Museum
The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docume ...
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thompson, Jacob
1806 births
1879 deaths
19th-century English painters
English male painters
People from Penrith, Cumbria
19th-century English male artists