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 Portrait Painting is a genre in painting, where the intent is to represent a specific human subject. The term 'portrait painting' can also describe the actual painted portrait. Portraitists may create their work by commission, for public and pr ...

, who was one of the founding members 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 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

. 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 Catharine Macaulay (née Sawbridge, later Graham; 23 March 1731 – 22 June 1791), was an English Whig republican historian. Early life Catharine Macaulay was a daughter of John Sawbridge (1699–1762) and his wife Elizabeth Wanley (died 1733 ...

. 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 Spitalfields is a district in the East End of London and within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. The area is formed around Commercial Street (on the A1202 London Inner Ring Road) and includes the locale around Brick Lane, Christ Church, ...

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, statesman, diplomat, printer, publisher, and political philosopher. Encyclopædia Britannica, Wood, 2021 Among the leading inte ...

, 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 Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

n landowner and friend of Franklin's in London, Colonel

Philip Ludwell III Philip Cottington Ludwell III (December 28, 1716 – February 28, 1767) was a Virginia planter, soldier and politician who twice represented Jamestown in the House of Burgesses, but in 1760 left his plantations in the care of overseers and perma ...

, 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 A lightning rod or lightning conductor (British English) is a metal rod mounted on a structure and intended to protect the structure from a lightning strike. If lightning hits the structure, it will preferentially strike the rod and be conducte ...

on his house. He looks to the left at a set of

lightning bell Franklin bells (also known as Gordon's Bells or lightning bells) are an early demonstration of electric charge designed to work with a Leyden jar. Franklin bells are only a qualitative indicator of electric charge and were used for simple demons ...

s (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 Mezzotint is a monochrome printmaking process of the '' intaglio'' family. It was the first printing process that yielded half-tones without using line- or dot-based techniques like hatching, cross-hatching or stipple. Mezzotint achieves tonal ...

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 William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...

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 Below the Bars) of the Ward of Farringdon Without in the City of London. The area has its root ...

, 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