William Armfield Hobday (1771 – 17 February 1831) was an English portrait painter and miniaturist whose clientele included royalty and the
Rothschild
Rothschild () is a name derived from the German ''zum rothen Schild'' (with the old spelling "th"), meaning "with the red sign", in reference to the houses where these family members lived or had lived. At the time, houses were designated by sign ...
family.
Life
Hobday was born in
Birmingham
Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...
, the eldest of 4 sons of
Samuel Hobday (1746–1816), a rich
Birmingham
Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...
spoon manufacturer.
[Stuart Hobday. "A brush with history" (2007)] Showing a capacity for drawing, he was sent to
London
London is the capital and 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 down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
when still a boy, and articled to an
engraver named William Barney, with whom he remained for six years, studying at the same time in 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 ...
schools. He then established himself in Charles Street, near the
Middlesex Hospital
Middlesex Hospital was a teaching hospital located in the Fitzrovia area of London, England. First opened as the Middlesex Infirmary in 1745 on Windmill Street, it was moved in 1757 to Mortimer Street where it remained until it was finally clos ...
, as a painter of
miniatures and
watercolour
Watercolor (American English) or watercolour (British English; see spelling differences), also ''aquarelle'' (; from Italian diminutive of Latin ''aqua'' "water"), is a painting method”Watercolor may be as old as art itself, going back to t ...
portraits, and commenced to exhibit at the Royal Academy in 1794. He was fortunate in soon securing a fashionable clientele, married Elizabeth Ivory (from
Worcester
Worcester may refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* Worcester, England, a city and the county town of Worcestershire in England
** Worcester (UK Parliament constituency), an area represented by a Member of Parliament
* Worcester Park, London, Englan ...
), and in 1800 moved to Holles Street,
Cavendish Square
Cavendish Square is a public garden square in Marylebone in the West End of London. It has a double-helix underground commercial car park. Its northern road forms ends of four streets: of Wigmore Street that runs to Portman Square in the much lar ...
, where, supported largely by his father, he lived for a short time in a recklessly expensive manner.
In 1804 he left London for
Bristol
Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...
, where for some years he was largely employed in painting the portraits of officers embarking for the
Peninsular War
The Peninsular War (1807–1814) was the military conflict fought in the Iberian Peninsula by Spain, Portugal, and the United Kingdom against the invading and occupying forces of the First French Empire during the Napoleonic Wars. In Spain ...
. Though Hobday earned large sums, he continued to be extravagant and in financial difficulties. In 1817, after the war ended, Hobday returned to the capital, and took a large house in
Broad Street, hoping to renew his earlier artistic and social connections. In this he was disappointed even though patronised by
N. M. Rothschild, for whom he painted a family group at the price of a thousand
guineas
The guinea (; commonly abbreviated gn., or gns. in plural) was a coin, minted in United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Great Britain between 1663 and 1814, that contained approximately one-quarter of an ounce of gold. The name came from t ...
.
[Hobday's paintings in the Rothschild archive](_blank)
/ref> In 1821 he moved to 54 Pall Mall, which had large galleries attached to it and, after a disastrous speculative venture in a panoramic exhibition, called the "Poecilorama" at the Egyptian Hall
The Egyptian Hall in Piccadilly, London, was an exhibition hall built in the ancient Egyptian style in 1812, to the designs of Peter Frederick Robinson. The Hall was a considerable success, with exhibitions of artwork and of Napoleonic era re ...
, opened these galleries for the sale of pictures on commission. Though supported by all the leading English and many French artists, the venture proved a complete failure, and in 1820 Hobday went bankrupt.
In 1831, Hobday married Maria Pearce Ustonson (born Maria Pearce in Exeter
Exeter () is a city in Devon, South West England. It is situated on the River Exe, approximately northeast of Plymouth and southwest of Bristol.
In Roman Britain, Exeter was established as the base of Legio II Augusta under the personal comm ...
in 1784). He died on 17 February of that same year.
One of Hobday's sons was George Armfield Smith (1808–1893) who became a celebrated dog painter. His daughter, Harriet Eliza, married English composer Robert Lucas de Pearsall
Robert Lucas Pearsall (14 March 1795 – 5 August 1856) was an English composer mainly of vocal music, including an elaborate setting of "In dulci jubilo" and the richly harmonic part song ''Lay a garland'' of 1840, both still often performed tod ...
(1795–1856).
Work
Throughout his chequered career Hobday was a constant exhibitor at the Royal Academy, frequently contributing even during his residence at Bristol. In 1819 he exhibited there a portrait of the Duke of Sussex
Duke of Sussex is a substantive title, one of several royal dukedoms, that has been created twice in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It is a hereditary title of a specific rank of nobility in the British royal family. It takes its name fr ...
. His best work was a picture of Carolus the Hermit of Tong - whereabouts presently unknown. His portrait of Miss Biggs in the character of Cora, and that of Richard Reynolds, the Bristol Quaker
Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of Christian denomination, denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belie ...
philanthropist, were engraved, the latter by William Sharp. He was always well patronised, and obtained good prices for his works, but the quality of his art suffered greatly from his restless and improvident habits.
Hobday's more important clients included the pioneer vaccinologist Dr Edward Jenner
Edward Jenner, (17 May 1749 – 26 January 1823) was a British physician and scientist who pioneered the concept of vaccines, and created the smallpox vaccine, the world's first vaccine. The terms ''vaccine'' and ''vaccination'' are derived f ...
, King George IV
George IV (George Augustus Frederick; 12 August 1762 – 26 June 1830) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and King of Hanover from the death of his father, King George III, on 29 January 1820, until his own death ten y ...
(the portrait last being sold at Christie’s in 1911) and the Rothschild family
The Rothschild family ( , ) is a wealthy Ashkenazi Jewish family originally from Frankfurt that rose to prominence with Mayer Amschel Rothschild (1744–1812), a court factor to the German Landgraves of Hesse-Kassel in the Free City of F ...
. Hobday was also a close friend of fellow artist George Morland
George Morland (26 June 176329 October 1804) was an English painter. His early work was influenced by Francis Wheatley, but after the 1790s he came into his own style. His best compositions focus on rustic scenes: farms and hunting; smugglers a ...
, and painted his portrait.
Notes
;Attribution
Further reading
Arnold, M.
Memoir of William Armfield Hobday
' (from No. 11, volume 2 of Arnold's library of the fine arts, 1831) pp. 384–91.
External links
*Hobday, Stuart
A brush with history - Hobday's portrait of Edward Jenner
(Article for the Biochemical society, June 2007)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hobday, William Armfield
18th-century English painters
English male painters
19th-century English painters
English watercolourists
English portrait painters
Portrait miniaturists
1771 births
1831 deaths
People from Birmingham, West Midlands
19th-century English male artists
18th-century English male artists