Nathaniel Hone (24 April 1718 – 14 August 1784) was an

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

-born portrait and

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 probl ...

painter, and one of the founder members of the Royal Academy in 1768.

Early life

The son of a

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 c ...

-based

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

merchant, Hone moved to

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

as a young man and, after marrying Molly Earle - daughter of the

Duke of Argyll Duke of Argyll ( gd, Diùc Earraghàidheil) is a title created in the peerage of Scotland in 1701 and in the peerage of the United Kingdom in 1892. The earls, marquesses, and dukes of Argyll were for several centuries among the most powerfu ...

- in 1742, eventually settled in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, by which time he had acquired a reputation as a portrait-painter. While his paintings were popular, his reputation was particularly enhanced by his skill at producing miniatures and enamels. He interrupted his time in London by spending two years (1750–1752) studying 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 ...

Works

As a portrait painter, several of his works are now held at the National Portrait Gallery in London. His sitters included

magistrate The term magistrate is used in a variety of systems of governments and laws to refer to a civilian officer who administers the law. In ancient Rome, a '' magistratus'' was one of the highest ranking government officers, and possessed both judic ...

Sir

John Fielding Sir John Fielding (16 September 1721 – 4 September 1780) was a notable English magistrate and social reformer of the 18th century. He was also the younger half-brother of novelist, playwright and chief magistrate Henry Fielding. Despite bein ...

and

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's ...

preacher John Wesley, and General Richard Wilford and Sir

Levett Levett is a surname of Anglo-Norman origin, deriving from eLivet, which is held particularly by families and individuals resident in England and British Commonwealth territories. Origins This surname comes from the village of Livet-en-Ouche, no ...

Hanson in a double portrait. He often used his son John Camillus Hone (1745–1836) in some of his works, including his unique portrait of "The Spartan Boy", painted in 1774.

''The Conjuror''

He courted controversy in 1775 when his satirical picture ''The Conjurer'' (

National Gallery of Ireland The National Gallery of Ireland ( ga, Gailearaí Náisiúnta na hÉireann) houses the national collection of Irish and European art. It is located in the centre of Dublin with one entrance on Merrion Square, beside Leinster House, and another on ...

, Dublin) was seen to attack the fashion for Italian Renaissance art and to ridicule Sir Joshua Reynolds, leading the Royal Academy to reject the painting. It also originally included a nude caricature of fellow Academician Angelica Kauffman in the top left corner, which was painted out by Hone after Kauffman complained to the academy. The combination of a little girl and an old man has also been seen as symbolic of Kauffman and Reynolds's closeness, age difference, and rumoured affair. To show that his reputation was undamaged, Hone organised a one-man retrospective in London, the first such solo exhibition of an artist's work. File:Nathaniel Hone The Conjurer.jpg, Final, revised, version of ''The Conjurer'', 1775. File:The Spartan Boy by Nathaniel Hone.jpg, ''The Spartan Boy'', 1774 File:James Wolfe, General (1768).JPG, General

James Wolfe James Wolfe (2 January 1727 – 13 September 1759) was a British Army officer known for his training reforms and, as a major general, remembered chiefly for his victory in 1759 over the French at the Battle of the Plains of Abraham in Quebec. ...

, 1768, posthumous File:Nathaniel Hone by Nathaniel Hone.jpg, self portrait circa 1760

Family

The

Hone family The Hone family is an Anglo-Irish family dating back to the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland when Samuel Hone arrived with the Parliamentary army in 1649. The family is believed to be of Dutch extraction, although no connection to the Netherlands ha ...

is related to the old

landed family the van Vianens, who hold the hereditary title of Vrijheer. His great-grand-nephew shared the same name and was also a notable Irish painter, known as

Nathaniel Hone the Younger Nathaniel Hone the Younger (26 October 1831 – 14 October 1917) was an Irish painter, the great-grand-nephew of the painter Nathaniel Hone. Life and career Hone studied at Trinity College Dublin. He began his career as a railway engine ...

(1831–1917). He is also a relation to painter

Evie Hone Eva Sydney Hone RHA (22 April 1894 – 13 March 1955), usually known as Evie, was an Irish painter and stained glass artist.Nicola Gordon Bowe (May 2009)Hone, Eva Sydney (1894–1955) ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', online editio ...

. Hone had two sons, both of whom became artists, John Camillus and Horace.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hone, Nathaniel 1718 births 1784 deaths 18th-century Irish painters Irish male painters Royal Academicians Irish people of Dutch descent Irish enamellers 18th-century enamellers Irish emigrants to Great Britain