Self-portrait by Nathaniel Hone, circa 1760
Nathaniel Hone, 1718–84, Portrait of Harry Earl Aged 15. 1758, watercolour on ivory. Victoria & Albert Museum, London.[1]

Nathaniel Hone RA (24 April 1718 – 14 August 1784) was an Irish-born portrait and miniature painter, and one of the founder members of the Royal Academy in 1768.

Early life

The son of a Dublin-based Dutch merchant, Hone moved to England as a young man and, after marrying Molly Earle - daughter of the Duke of Argyll - in 1742, eventually settled in London, by which time he had acquired a reputation as a portrait-painter. While his paintings were popular, his reputation was particularly enhanced by his skill at producing miniatures and enamels. He interrupted his time in London by spending two years (1750–1752) studying in Italy.

Works

As a portrait painter, several of his works are now held at the National Portrait Gallery in London. His sitters included magistrate Sir John Fielding and Methodist preacher John Wesley, and General Richard Wilford and Sir Levett Hanson in a double portrait.[2][3] He often used his son John Camillus Hone (1745–1836) in some of his works, including his unique portrait of "The Spartan Boy", painted in 1774.

The Conjuror

He courted controversy in 1775 when his satirical picture The Conjurer (National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin) was seen to attack the fashion for Italian Renaissance art and to ridicule Sir Joshua Reynolds, leading the Royal Academy to reject the painting. It also originally included a nude caricature of fellow Academician Angelica Kauffman in the top left corner, which was painted out by Hone after Kauffman complained to the academy. The combination of a little girl and an old man has also been seen as symbolic of Kauffman and Reynolds's closeness, age difference, and rumoured affair.[4] To show that his reputation was undamaged, Hone organised a one-man retrospective in London, the first such solo exhibition of an artist's work.[5]

Family

The Hone family is related to the old Dutch landed family the van Vianens, who hold the hereditary title of Vrijheer. His great-grandnephew shared the same name and was also a notable Irish painter, known as Nathaniel Hone the Younger (1831–1917). He is also a relation to painter Evie Hone.[7] Hone had two sons, both of whom became artists, John Camillus and Horace.[8]

References

  1. ↑ "Portrait of Harry Earl Aged 15". Paintings & Drawings. Victoria and Albert Museum. Archived from the original on 12 August 2011. Retrieved 14 October 2007.
  2. ↑ "Double Portrait of General Richard Wilford and Sir Levett Hanson, 1777, Nathaniel Hone (R.A.), Artfact.com". Archived from the original on 17 February 2012. Retrieved 7 October 2008.
  3. ↑ Thomas Gainsborough and Picture Framing, Jacob Simon, The National Portrait Gallery, npg.org.uk
  4. ↑ Rosenthal, Angela. (2006) Angelica Kauffman: Art and sensibility. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2006. pp. 226-7. ISBN 9780300103335
  5. ↑ Stefanis, Konstantinos. "Nathaniel Hone's 1775 Exhibition: The First Single-Artist Retrospective." Visual Culture in Britain 14.2 (2013): 131-153. https://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14714787.2013.787213
  6. ↑ http://onlinecollection.nationalgallery.ie/view/objects/asitem/items@null:3257 Archived 2017-05-10 at the Wayback Machine?
  7. ↑ "Evie Hone". Archived from the original on 5 March 2016. Retrieved 25 March 2016.
  8. ↑ Figgis, Nicola (2009). "Hone, Nathaniel". Dictionary of Irish Biography. Retrieved 23 November 2022.
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