Thomas Hudson (painter)
{{Short description|English painter (1701–1779)}}
{{Other people|Thomas Hudson}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2019}}
{{Infobox person
| image = File:Thomashudson.jpg
| birth_date = {{birth year|1701}}
| birth_place = Devon, England
| death_date = {{death year and age|1779|1701}}
| death_place = Twickenham, London
| occupation = English portrait painter
}}
Thomas Hudson (1701 – 1779) was an English painter, almost exclusively of portraits.
Life
Hudson was born in Devon, in 1701. He studied under Jonathan Richardson"[http://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/person.php?LinkID=mp03772 Jonathon Richardson]", London - National Portrait Gallery, accessed January 2010. in London and, against the latter's wishes, married Richardson's daughter at some point before 1725.{{cn|date=February 2024}}
Hudson was most prolific between 1740 and 1760 and, from 1745 until 1755 was the most successful London portraitist. He had many assistants, and employed the specialist drapery painter Joseph Van Aken.{{cite book |title=Manners and Morals: Hogarth and British Painting1700–1760|type=Exhibition catalogue |year=1987 |publisher=Tate Gallery |location=London |page=244}} Joshua Reynolds, Joseph Wright and the drapery painter Peter Toms{{cite book|title=The Royal Academy and its Members 1768-1830|url=https://archive.org/details/royalacademyitsm00hodg|first1=J. E.|last1=Hodgson|authorlink1=John Evan Hodgson|first2=Frederick A.|last2=Eaton|location=London|publisher=John Murray|year=1905}} were his students.
Hudson visited the Low Countries in 1748 and Italy in 1752. In 1753, he bought a house at Cross Deep, Twickenham, just upstream from Pope's Villa.{{cite web|title=William Hickey and Thomas Hudson |publisher=Twickenham Museum|url=http://www.twickenham-museum.org.uk/detail.asp?ContentID=47|accessdate=11 August 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20131224024141/http://www.twickenham-museum.org.uk/detail.asp?ContentID=47 |archive-date= Dec 24, 2013 }} He retired toward the end of the 1750s. William Hickey described the elderly Hudson, "His figure was rather grotesque, being uncommonly low in stature, with a prodigious belly, and constantly wearing a large white bushy periwig. He was remarkably good tempered, and one of my first-rate favourites, notwithstanding that he often told me I should certainly be hanged."Quennel, Peter, (ed) The Prodigal Rake: Memoirs of William Hickey. He died at Twickenham in 1779, aged 77 or 78. His extensive private art collection was sold off in three separate sales.https://doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/14041: Oxford DNB, Hudson, Thomas (bap. 1701, d. 1779). Retrieved 26 July 2024.
Many of Hudson's works may be seen in art galleries throughout the United Kingdom. They include the National Portrait Gallery, the National Maritime Museum, Tate, Barnstaple Guildhall, Foundling Museum and the Bristol City Museum and Art Gallery.{{cn|date=February 2024}}
Gallery
File:George II by Thomas Hudson.jpg|Portrait of George II, 1744
File:Thomas Hudson - Margaret Cavendish, Duchess of Portland.jpg|Duchess of Portland, 1744
File:Thomas Hudson (1701-1779) - Charles Erskine (1716–1749), Barrister - NG 2131 - National Galleries of Scotland.jpg|Charles Erskine, 1747
File:John Byng.jpg|Portrait of Admiral Byng, 1749
File:Susannah Maria Cibber (née Arne) by Thomas Hudson.jpg|Susannah Maria Cibber, 1749
File:Georg Friedrich Händel.jpg|George Frideric Handel, 1749
File:William Shirley by Thomas Hudson, 1750, oil on canvas, from the National Portrait Gallery - NPG-NPG 80 11Shirley-000001.jpg|William Shirley, 1750
File:Hudson - Frederick, Prince of Wales.jpg|Frederick, Prince of Wales, 1750
File:Princess Augusta of Saxe-Gotha, Princess of Wales.jpg|Augusta, Princess of Wales, 1750
File:Sir Peter Warren by Thomas Hudson.jpg|Admiral Peter Warren, {{circa|1751}}
File:Charles Yorke by Thomas Hudson.jpg|Charles Yorke, {{circa|1756}}
File:George Frideric Handel by Thomas Hudson - 1756.jpg|Portrait of George Frideric Handel, 1756
File:John Perceval, 2nd Earl of Egmont by Thomas Hudson.jpg|Earl of Egmont, {{circa|1759}}
File:Thomas Hudson - Anne van Keppel, Countess of Albemarle - Royal Albert Memorial Museum.jpg|Anne van Keppel, 1742-1748
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- {{commons category-inline|Thomas Hudson (painter)}}
- {{DNB|prescript=|wstitle=Hudson, Thomas}}
- {{Art UK bio}}
- [http://www.artcyclopedia.com/artists/hudson_thomas.html Thomas Hudson online] (Artcyclopedia)
- [http://www.artnet.com/artist/8611/thomas-hudson.html Thomas Hudson on Artnet]
- [http://libmma.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/compoundobject/collection/p15324coll10/id/82989/rec/60 John Singleton Copley in America], a full text exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art, which contains material on Thomas Hudson (see index)
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hudson, Thomas}}
Category:18th-century English painters
Category:English male painters
Category:English portrait painters