Hamlet Winstanley (1698–1756) was an English painter, engraver and art agent. As a painter, he was mainly active as a portraitist and copyist. Hamlet Winstanley Self-Portrait

Life

Winstanley was born in

Warrington Warrington () is a town and unparished area in the borough of the same name in the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England, on the banks of the River Mersey. It is east of Liverpool, and west of Manchester. The population in 2019 was estimat ...

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancas ...

, the second son of William Winstanley, a tradesman. In 1707 he was placed under the tuition of Samuel Shaw, rector of the parish and master of the Boteler free grammar school. John Finch, rector of Winwick and brother of the

Earl of Nottingham :''See also Earl of Winchilsea'' Earl of Nottingham is a title that has been created seven times in the Peerage of England. It was first created for John de Mowbray in 1377, at the coronation of Richard II. As this creation could only pass to h ...

, gave him access to his collection of paintings so that he could study and copy them. Finch arranged for him to study in London at the ''Kneller Academy of Painting and Drawing'' founded in 1711 in Great Queen Street,

Lincoln's Inn Fields Lincoln's Inn Fields is the largest public square in London. It was laid out in the 1630s under the initiative of the speculative builder and contractor William Newton, "the first in a long series of entrepreneurs who took a hand in develo ...

. He remained at the academy for three years, receiving tuition from

Sir Godfrey Kneller Sir Godfrey Kneller, 1st Baronet (born Gottfried Kniller; 8 August 1646 – 19 October 1723), was the leading portrait painter in England during the late 17th and early 18th centuries, and was court painter to English and British monarchs from ...

. Winstanley returned to Warrington in 1721 with a commission to paint the portrait of Sir Edward Stanley. Its success led to his introduction to James Stanley, 10th Earl of Derby, and the earl ordered him to come and paint for him at his seat at Knowsley Hall. During the next two years he painted landscapes and portraits, including one of the earl. At the earl’s expense, he stayed in Rome from 1723 to 1725. The earl asked him to buy paintings and sculpture, through a certain 'Me. M', a Jacobite exile and collector. Winstanley was thus able to copy various paintings in Roman collections for Lord Derby. After returning to London, Winstanley continued to act as an agent for Lord Derby, bidding and buying on his behalf from auction houses and art dealers. He spent his later years at Warrington, where he built Stanley Street, and named it after his patrons at Knowsley. He died at Warrington on 18 May 1756. His collections of copper-plates and prints are stated by

Horace Walpole Horatio Walpole (), 4th Earl of Orford (24 September 1717 – 2 March 1797), better known as Horace Walpole, was an English writer, art historian, man of letters, antiquarian, and Whig politician. He had Strawberry Hill House built in Twi ...

to have been sold by auction at Essex House on 18 March 1762.

Works

As a painter, he was mainly active as a portraitist and copyist. Winstanley left sketches of

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus ( legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

and studies of antique figures. The

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

purchased two examples of his pen and wash drawings in 1870. The

Yale Centre for British Art Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the worl ...

holds a sketchbook containing 81 study drawings drawings of body parts by Hamlet Winstanley. He executed large copies of the '' Three Graces'' by

Raphael Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino, better known as Raphael (; or ; March 28 or April 6, 1483April 6, 1520), was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. His work is admired for its clarity of form, ease of composition, and visual ...

, in the Farnesina Palace at Rome, and of the '' Triumph of Bacchus'' by

Annibale Caracci Annibale Carracci (; November 3, 1560 – July 15, 1609) was an Italian painter and instructor, active in Bologna and later in Rome. Along with his brother and cousin, Annibale was one of the progenitors, if not founders of a leading strand of th ...

, in the Farnese Palace. His etchings after pictures by old masters (including Ribera, Rembrandt,

Anthony van Dyck Sir Anthony van Dyck (, many variant spellings; 22 March 1599 – 9 December 1641) was a Brabantian Flemish Baroque artist who became the leading court painter in England after success in the Southern Netherlands and Italy. The seventh ...

, Carlo Dolci, Tintoretto, Titian, Rubens,

Frans Snyders Frans Snyders or Frans Snijders (11 November 1579, Antwerp – 19 August 1657, Antwerp) was a Flemish painter of animals, hunting scenes, market scenes and still lifes. He was one of the earliest specialist animaliers and he is credited with ...

, and Salvator Rosa) in the possession of the Earl of Derby were bound together in a portfolio known as the ''Knowsley Gallery''. Hamlet Winstanley - A portrait of a young lady

Hamlet Winstanley - A portrait of a young lady

Winstanley executed portraits of the Stanleys, John Blackburne of Orford Hall,

Samuel Peploe Samuel John Peploe (pronounced PEP-low; 27 January 1871 – 11 October 1935) was a Scottish Post-Impressionist painter, noted for his still life works and for being one of the group of four painters that became known as the Scottish Colourists ...

, and Jonathan Patten of Manchester. Several of his portraits were etched or engraved. He would often paint the head on a separate piece of canvas and then send it to the drapery painter Joseph Van Aken in London so it could be pasted onto the costumed figure to be painted by Van Aken. The portrait of the Earl of Derby was engraved by Gerard Van der Gucht and the portrait of Edward Waddington, painted in 1730, was engraved in

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 ...

by John Faber the Younger. Some of his landscape and other subjects were at Knowsley Hall. Winstanley also made etchings of

Sir James Thornhill Sir James Thornhill (25 July 1675 or 1676 – 4 May 1734) was an English painter of historical subjects working in the Italian baroque tradition. He was responsible for some large-scale schemes of murals, including the "Painted Hall" at the Ro ...

's paintings in the dome of

St Paul's Cathedral St Paul's Cathedral is an Anglicanism, Anglican cathedral in London and is the seat of the Bishop of London. The cathedral serves as the mother church of the Diocese of London. It is on Ludgate Hill at the highest point of the City of London ...

. He also made a series of large etchings after old master paintings in the collection of the 19th Earl of Derby at Knowsley Hall in c.1728-9.''Hamlet Winstanley''
at the British Museum

References

;Attribution

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Winstanley, Hamlet 1698 births 1756 deaths 18th-century English painters English portrait painters English landscape painters English male painters People educated at Boteler Grammar School People from Warrington English engravers English art dealers 18th-century English male artists