Robert Dighton (1752-1814) -Watercolour A Gentleman

Description

Condition

The condition is typical for a picture of this age, including some discoloration. There is light foxing.

Size

28 x 13cm (11" x 5.1")
Framed Size: 44 x 30cm (17.3" x 11.8")

Artist Biography

Robert Dighton was born c. 1752 in London and died there in 1814. An English portrait painter, printmaker, and caricaturist, he was the founder of a dynasty of artists who followed in his footsteps. Robert Dighton was the son of the London print seller John Dighton. In the 1770s, he began acting and singing in plays at the Haymarket Theatre, Covent Garden, and Sadler’s Wells while at the same time training and exhibiting at the Royal Academy - he entered the Royal Academy Schools in 1772. As an artist, he was first offered consistent employment by the publisher Carington Bowles. Much of Dighton's early work was issued anonymously, but by the early 1790s, it became increasingly well known, and he began etching and publishing under his own name. In awkward poses and with ruddy faces, Dighton's satirical caricatures included lawyers, military officers, actors, and actresses who were seen about town, as well as down-at-heel types. In 1795, he brought out a Book of Heads and thenceforth devoted himself chiefly to caricature. His work is noted as being less savage than that of his contemporaries, James Gillray and George Cruikshank. By the start of the century, his success allowed him to open a shop in Charing Cross, where he sold his own prints and those of others. While living in Oxford, he did an amusing series of portraits of academic types and country gentlemen, as well as in Bath and Cambridge. Returning to London in 1810, he reopened his studio, where he worked with his sons until his death in 1814.