Mason Chamberlin from The Portraits of the Academicians of the Royal Academy by Johan Zoffany (cropped)

Mason Chamberlin (1727–1787) was an English portrait painter, who was one of the founding members of the Royal Academy in 1768. He was a student of

Francis Hayman Francis Hayman (1708 – 2 February 1776) was an English painter and illustrator who became one of the founding members of the Royal Academy in 1768, and later its first librarian. Life and works Born in Exeter, Devon, Hayman begun his arti ...

. He is perhaps best remembered for his portrait of Benjamin Franklin.

Life

Chamberlin was a pupil of

. In 1768 he was one of the founding members of the Royal Academy. He exhibited 50 works at the academy between 1769 and 1786. All were portraits. The subjects of most of them are unnamed in the catalogues but in 1771 he showed a full-length painting of Prince Edward and Princess Augusta and in 1774 one of Catharine Macaulay. He also showed 22 works at the Society of Artists and two at the Free Society of Artists. His address is given as 7, Stuart Street, Spitalfields in the Academy catalogues and from 1785 as 10, Bartlett's Buildings.

Franklin portrait

He is perhaps best known for a portrait of

Benjamin Franklin Benjamin Franklin ( April 17, 1790) was an American polymath who was active as a writer, scientist, inventor An invention is a unique or novel device, method, composition, idea or process. An invention may be an improvement upon a m ...

, commissioned by wealthy

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the East Coast of the United States, Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography an ...

n landowner and friend of Franklin's in London, Colonel Philip Ludwell III, and painted from life in 1762. It shows Franklin seated in his study with lightning striking outside the window in the background, and a lightning rod on his house. He looks to the left at a set of lightning bells (a device of his own invention), which would ring to signal when lightning was striking the rod. Franklin could then use the electricity in order to perform his experiments. Later in 1762 (or early 1763) a popular mezzotint was made after it (possibly as part of the agreement between Chamberlin and Ludwell), by the Irish-born engraver Edward Fisher (1730–1785). Franklin's son William ordered 100 copies to sell in America, 18 of which Franklin distributed himself, mostly to friends in New England such as Mather Byles, Ezra Stiles, and his niece's husband, Jonathan Williams. This was Franklin's favorite print during the time, partially because of the accurate likeness. The original painting is owned by the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Franklin's son William also commissioned a replica of this painting to be made, for Franklin to give him as a gift to hang in the dining room of William's new home — the copy is presumed to have been sent to America, but has since been destroyed.

Death

He died at Bartlett's Buildings,

Holborn Holborn ( or ) is a district in central London, which covers the south-eastern part of the London Borough of Camden and a part (St Andrew Holborn (parish), St Andrew Holborn Below the Bars) of the Wards of the City of London, Ward of Farringdon ...

, on 20 January 1787.

Family

His son, also called Mason, was a prolific painter who exhibited 68 landscapes in London between 1780 and 1827, of which 58 were shown at the Royal Academy.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Chamberlin, Mason 1727 births 1787 deaths 18th-century English painters English male painters Royal Academicians 18th-century English male artists