Philip Reinagle (1749 – 27 November 1833) was an English painter of animals, landscapes, and botanical scenes. The son of a
Hungarian musician living in
Edinburgh
Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian on the southern shore of t ...
, Reinagle came to London in 1763 and after serving an apprenticeship, later became a member of the
Royal Academy.
Biography
Philip Reinagle entered the schools of the
Royal Academy in 1769, and later became a pupil of
Allan Ramsay, whom he assisted on his numerous portraits of
George III
George III (George William Frederick; 4 June 173829 January 1820) was King of Great Britain and of Ireland from 25 October 1760 until the union of the two kingdoms on 1 January 1801, after which he was King of the United Kingdom of Great Br ...
and
Queen Charlotte
Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (Sophia Charlotte; 19 May 1744 – 17 November 1818) was Queen of Great Britain and of Ireland as the wife of King George III from their marriage on 8 September 1761 until the union of the two kingdoms ...
.
He first exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1773. The works he showed were almost all portraits until 1785, when the monotonous work of producing replicas of royal portraits appears to have given him a distaste for portraiture, and led him to abandon it for animal painting. He became very successful in his treatment of sporting dogs, especially
spaniel
A spaniel is a type of gun dog. Spaniels were especially bred to flush game out of denser brush. By the late 17th century, spaniels had been specialized into water and land breeds. The extinct English Water Spaniel was used to retrieve water ...
s, of birds, and of dead game. In 1787, however, he showed a ''View taken from Brackendale Hill, Norfolk'', at the academy and from then on exhibited works mostly landscapes. He was elected an associate of the Royal Academy in 1787, but did not become an academician until 1812, when he presented as his diploma picture ''An Eagle and a Vulture disputing with a Hyaena''. He also exhibited frequently at the
British Institution.
[ ]
Reinagle was also an accomplished copyist of the Dutch masters, and his reproductions of cattle-pieces and landscapes by
Paulus Potter
Paulus Potter (; 20 November 1625 (baptised) – 17 January 1654 (buried)) was a Dutch painter who specialized in animals within landscapes, usually with a low vantage point.
Before Potter died of tuberculosis at the age of 28 he succeeded in ...
,
Ruisdael,
Hobbema,
Berchem,
Wouwerman,
Adriaen van de Velde
Adriaen van de Velde (bapt. 30 November 1636, in Amsterdam – bur. 21 January 1672, in Amsterdam), was a Dutch painter, draughtsman and print artist. His favorite subjects were landscapes with animals and genre scenes.[Karel Dujardin
Karel Dujardin (September 27, 1626November 20, 1678) was a Dutch Golden Age painter. Although he did a few portraits and a few history paintings of religious subjects, most of his work is small Italianate landscape scenes with animals and peasan ...]
, and others have often been passed off as originals. He also made some of the drawings for
Robert John Thornton's ''New Illustration of the Sexual System of Linnaeus'' (1799–1807), and for his ''Philosophy of Botany'' (1809–10) ; but his best drawings for book illustration were those of dogs for
William Taplin's ''Sportsman's Cabinet'' (1803) which were engraved by
John Scott.
Reinagle died at 5 York Place,
Chelsea, London
Chelsea is an affluent area in west London, England, due south-west of Charing Cross by approximately 2.5 miles. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames and for postal purposes is part of the south-western postal area.
Chelsea histori ...
, on 27 November 1833, aged 84. A drawing by him, 'Fox-hunting the Death', is in the collection of the
Victoria and Albert Museum
The Victoria and Albert Museum (often abbreviated as the V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.27 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and nam ...
.
Family
In 1771 Reinagle married Jane Austin; they had nine daughters (Amelia Ann, Mary Ann, Jane, Charlotte Jenetta, Rachel Christiana, Frances Arabella, Caroline, Harriet, and Oriana Georgina), and two sons.
Of the sons,
Ramsay Richard Reinagle
Ramsay Richard Reinagle (19 March 1775 – 17 November 1862) was an English portrait, landscape, and animal painter, and son of Philip Reinagle.
Biography
Ramsay Richard Reinagle was a pupil of his father Philip Reinagle, whose style he fo ...
was also an artist, and followed his father's style.
The other son, Philip, went to
Trinidad
Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands of Trinidad and Tobago. The island lies off the northeastern coast of Venezuela and sits on the continental shelf of South America. It is often referred to as the southernmos ...
where he held posts including Surveyor of
Port of Spain. He was responsible for the design and construction of
Holy Trinity Cathedral and the
Cathedral Basilica of the Immaculate Conception there.
Of the daughters:
*Amelia Ann married William Henry Souper;
Philip Dottin Souper was their son,
as was
Robert Souper Howard.
*Mary Ann married Thomas Hayward Budd
*Charlotte Jenetta married John White, in 1808
*Frances Arabella married to John Levett-Yeats, grandson of the English merchant and planter
Francis Levett
Arty business
Philip was known for his copying as were his daughters Charlotte Reinagle and Frances Arabella Reinagle. The had both exhibited their work at the Royal Academy and
British Institution but in 1807 they decided to make money copying the work of great masters. Each year valuable paintings were lent to the British Institution and although the two of them were not allowed to recreate a complete painting they were allowed to paint details from the larger paintings. They worked rapidly as the objective was to make money. They claimed to have three day cycle where each painting was made on the first day, sold on the second and on the third they spent the profits. Their siblings Oriana Georgina, Harriet and Philip Reinagle the younger all exhibited their works too.
Notes
References
*
External links
*
Profile on Royal Academy of Arts Collections
{{DEFAULTSORT:Reinagle, Philip
1749 births
1833 deaths
Royal Academicians
18th-century English painters
English male painters
19th-century English painters
Landscape artists
Dog artists
19th-century English male artists
18th-century English male artists