Allan Ramsay (artist) - Wikipedia Allan Ramsay (artist) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to navigation Jump to search 18th-century Scottish portrait painter For other people with the same name, see Allan Ramsay. Allan Ramsay Allan Ramsay, self-portrait, c. 1737–9 (National Portrait Gallery) Born 13 October 1713 (1713-10-13) Edinburgh, Midlothian, Scotland Died 10 August 1784(1784-08-10) (aged 70) Dover, Kent, England Nationality Scottish Education London (1733–36, under Hans Huyssing, and at the St. Martin's Lane Academy); Rome (1736-9, under Francesco Solimena and Francesco Fernandi). Known for Portraiture Movement Classicism Patron(s) Duncan Forbes, Duke of Bridgewater, George III Allan Ramsay (13 October 1713 – 10 August 1784) was a prominent Scottish portrait-painter. Contents 1 Life and career 2 Art 3 Paintings 4 Abolitionism and paintings of Queen Charlotte 5 Writings 6 References 7 External links Life and career[edit] Allan Ramsay was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, the eldest son of Allan Ramsay, poet and author of The Gentle Shepherd. From the age of twenty he studied in London under the Swedish painter Hans Hysing, and at the St. Martin's Lane Academy; leaving in 1736 for Rome and Naples, where he worked for three years under Francesco Solimena and Imperiali (Francesco Fernandi).[1] On his return in 1738 to the British Isles, he first settled in Edinburgh, attracting attention by his head of Duncan Forbes of Culloden and his full-length portrait of the Duke of Argyll, later used on Royal Bank of Scotland banknotes. He later moved to London, where he was employed by the Duke of Bridgewater. First wife Anne Bayne, painted by Ramsay[2] His pleasant manners and varied culture, not less than his artistic skill, contributed to render him popular.[1] His only serious competitor was Thomas Hudson, with whom he shared a drapery painter, Joseph van Aken. In 1739 he married his first wife, Anne Bayne, the daughter of Alexander Bayne of Rires (c. 1684–1737), and Mary Carstairs (1695?–1759). Anne died on 4 February 1743, giving birth to their 3rd child; none of their children reached adulthood.[2] One of his drawing pupils was Margaret Lindsay, eldest daughter of Sir Alexander Lindsay of Evelick and Amelia Murray (granddaughter to David Murray, 5th Viscount of Stormont and sister to the naval officer John Lindsay). He later eloped with her and on 1 March 1752 they married in the Canongate Kirk, Edinburgh; her father never forgave her for marrying an artist. Ramsay already had to maintain a daughter from his previous marriage and his two surviving sisters, but told Sir Alexander that he could provide Margaret with an annual income of £100. He said it would increase ‘as my affairs increase, and I thank God, they are in a way of increasing’ and that his only motive for the marriage was ‘my love for your Daughter, who, I am sensible, is entitled to much more than ever I shall have to bestow upon her’.[3] Three children survived from their long and happy marriage, Amelia (1755–1813), Charlotte (1758–1818?), and John (1768–1845). Ramsay and his new wife spent 1754 to 1757 together in Italy, going to Rome, Florence, Naples and Tivoli, researching, painting and drawing old masters, antiquities and archaeological sites. He earned income painting Grand Tourists' portraits. This and other trips to Italy involved more literary and antiquarian research than art. After their return, Ramsay in 1761 was appointed to succeed John Shackelton as Principal Painter in Ordinary to George III, beating Hudson to the post.[4][5] The king commissioned so many royal portraits to be given to ambassadors and colonial governors, that Ramsay used the services of numerous assistants—of whom David Martin and Philip Reinagle are the best known.[1] He gave up painting in about 1770 to concentrate on literary pursuits. His health was shattered by an accidental dislocation of the right arm and his second wife's death in 1782. With unflinching pertinacity, he struggled until he had completed a likeness of the king upon which he was engaged at the time, and then started for his beloved Italy. He left a series of 50 royal portraits to be completed by his assistant Reinagle. For several years he lingered in the south, his constitution finally broken. He died at Dover on 10 August 1784.[1] Ramsay was a friend of Samuel Johnson's, who said of him, 'I love Ramsay. You will not find a man in whose conversation there is more instruction, more information, and more elegance, than in Ramsay's.'[6] Art[edit] Portrait of George III, circa 1762 Among his most satisfactory productions are some of his earlier ones, such as the full-length of the duke of Argyll, and the numerous bust-portraits of Scottish gentlemen and their ladies which he executed before settling in London. They are full of both grace and individuality; the features show excellent draughtsmanship; and the flesh-painting is firm and sound in method, though frequently tending a little to hardness and opacity. His full-length of Lady Mary Coke is remarkable for the skill and delicacy with which the white satin drapery is managed; while the portrait of his brown-eyed second wife Margaret, in the Scottish National Gallery, is described as having a sweetness and tenderness. The portrait of his wife also shows the influence of French art, which Ramsay incorporated into his work. The large collection of his sketches in the possession of the Royal Scottish Academy and the Board of Trustees, Edinburgh also show this French elegance and soft colours.[1] In a documentary broadcast by the BBC in February 2014, Ramsay was shown to be the artist who painted the lost portrait of Charles Edward Stuart in 1745, completed on the verge of his invasion of England.[7] Paintings[edit] Ramsay has paintings in the collection of a few British institutions including the National Gallery in London, Sheffield, Derby Art Gallery (attributed), Glasgow Museum and Newstead Abbey.[8] In 2016 a portrait of Richard Mead (King George II’s physician) by Allan Ramsay was discovered by Bendor Grosvenor (using the Art UK website) as part of the British BBC4 television programme Britain's Lost Masterpieces; conservation treatment was carried out by Simon Rollo Gillespie to repair the torn canvas and remove layers of discoloured varnishes. [9] Abolitionism and paintings of Queen Charlotte[edit] The examples and perspective in this article may not include all significant viewpoints. Please improve the article or discuss the issue. (January 2020) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) According to Mario de Valdes y Cocom in 2009 on an edition of PBS Frontline, in several paintings of Queen Charlotte, Ramsay deliberately emphasised "mulatto features" which the queen supposedly inherited via descent from a 13th-century Moorish ancestor.[10] Valdes suggests that copies of these paintings were sent to the colonies to be used by abolitionists as a de facto support for their cause.[10] Other historians question whether the 13th-century ancestor, referred to in various places as a 'Moor' and Berber, was black African. In any event, they contend that the connection, nine and 15 generations removed, was too distant to consider Charlotte 'black' in any cultural way, as her other ancestors were all European.[11] Allan Ramsay's works Self-portrait The lost portrait of Charles Edward Stuart, painted in Edinburgh in 1745 Queen Charlotte as painted by Allan Ramsay in 1762 Portrait of David Hume, 1754 Portrait of David Hume, 1766 Alexander Boswell, Lord Auchinleck Lady in a Pink Silk Dress John Burgoyne, painted in Rome in 1758 Sir John Inglis Sir William Douglas, 4th Baronet of Kelhead Portrait of an African, oil on canvas, between 1757 and 1760. Allan Ramsay in old age by Michael Foye 1776 Writings[edit] A Dialogue on Taste 1762 ;(Kessinger Publishing 2009) ISBN 978-1-104-59212-7 Letters on the Present Disturbances in Great Britain and her American Provinces 1777 ; (Gale ECCO 2010) ISBN 978-1170488447 Observations on the Riot Act 1781 ; (Gale ECCO 2010) ISBN 978-1170486757 References[edit] ^ a b c d e  One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain:  Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Ramsay, Allan". Encyclopædia Britannica. 22 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 878–879. ^ a b "Anne Bayne, Mrs Allan Ramsay, d. 1743. Wife of the artist Allan Ramsay" National Galleries of Scotland accessed May 15, 2016 ^ Ramsay to Lindsay, 31 March 1752, A. Smart, Allan Ramsay: Painter, essayist, and Man of the Enlightenment (1992), 96 n. 10 ^ Pech, H.T.; Peabody, S.H.; Richardson, C.F. (1900). The International Cyclopædia: A Compendium of Human Knowledge. Revised with Large Additions. The International Cyclopædia: A Compendium of Human Knowledge. Revised with Large Additions. Dodd, Mead. p. 415. Retrieved 1 May 2019. ... On his return, being introduced to the Prince of Wales, afterward George III., he rapidly rose into favor, and in 1767 was appointed principal painter to the king. ^ Smart, A.; Ramsay, A.; Scottish National Portrait Gallery (1992). Allan Ramsay, 1713–1784 (in Turkish). Scottish National Portrait Gallery. p. 133. ISBN 9780903598262. Retrieved 1 May 2019. ... On Shackleton's death in 1767 Ramsay succeeded him in the full office of Principal Painter in Ordinary, which, before the ... ^ James Boswell (30 April 1778). The Life of Samuel Johnson. ^ "Lost Bonnie Prince Charlie portrait found in Scotland". BBC News. 22 February 2014. Retrieved 23 February 2014. ^ Allan Ramsay, BBC; accessed August 2011. ^ McLaren, Rob (7 October 2016). "18th century art masterpiece discovered in Montrose after being neglected in store room". TheCourier.co.uk. ^ a b "The blurred racial lines of famous families – Queen Charlotte". PBS. Retrieved 26 September 2012. ^ Stuart Jeffries, "Was this Britain's first black queen?" The Guardian, 12 March 2009 External links[edit] Wikimedia Commons has media related to Allan Ramsay. Works in the National Galleries of Scotland Nigel Warburton on the significance of two portraits of Hume and Rousseau Art "4" "2"-Day – Collection of Short Biographies Web Gallery of Art – more examples of Ramsay's work 236 paintings by or after Allan Ramsay at the Art UK site Court offices Preceded by John Shackelton Principal Painter in Ordinary to the King 1761–1784 Succeeded by Sir Joshua Reynolds Authority control AAG: 550 AGSA: 3533 BNE: XX5442756 BNF: cb136026493 (data) GND: 118749005 ISNI: 0000 0000 9576 2163 LCCN: n85011073 NGV: 1189 NLA: 35440991 NTA: 071042512 RKD: 65557 SELIBR: 293904 SNAC: w6c827d1 SUDOC: 030210682 Trove: 953825 ULAN: 500019302 VIAF: 49266202 WorldCat Identities: lccn-n85011073 Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Allan_Ramsay_(artist)&oldid=995491784" Categories: 1713 births 1784 deaths 18th-century Scottish painters Scottish male painters Principal Painters in Ordinary Scottish portrait painters Artists from Edinburgh People of the Scottish Enlightenment Disease-related deaths in England Hidden categories: Wikipedia articles incorporating a citation from the 1911 Encyclopaedia Britannica with Wikisource reference Wikipedia articles incorporating text from the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica CS1 Turkish-language sources (tr) CS1: Julian–Gregorian uncertainty Articles with short description Short description is different from Wikidata Use dmy dates from September 2017 Use British English from September 2017 Articles with hCards Articles needing more viewpoints from January 2020 Commons category link is on Wikidata Wikipedia articles with AAG identifiers Wikipedia articles with AGSA identifiers Wikipedia articles with BNE identifiers Wikipedia articles with BNF identifiers Wikipedia articles with GND identifiers Wikipedia articles with ISNI identifiers Wikipedia articles with LCCN identifiers Wikipedia articles with NGV identifiers Wikipedia articles with NLA identifiers Wikipedia articles with NTA identifiers Wikipedia articles with RKDartists identifiers Wikipedia articles with SELIBR identifiers Wikipedia articles with SNAC-ID identifiers Wikipedia articles with SUDOC identifiers Wikipedia articles with Trove identifiers Wikipedia articles with ULAN identifiers Wikipedia articles with VIAF identifiers Wikipedia articles with WORLDCATID identifiers Navigation menu Personal tools Not logged in Talk Contributions Create account Log in Namespaces Article Talk Variants Views Read Edit View history More Search Navigation Main page Contents Current events Random article About Wikipedia Contact us Donate Contribute Help Learn to edit Community portal Recent changes Upload file Tools What links here Related changes Upload file Special pages Permanent link Page information Cite this page Wikidata item Print/export Download as PDF Printable version In other projects Wikimedia Commons Languages العربية Беларуская Català Deutsch Español Français Frysk Հայերեն Italiano עברית Nederlands 日本語 Norsk nynorsk Polski Português Русский Simple English Srpskohrvatski / српскохрватски Svenska Edit links This page was last edited on 21 December 2020, at 09:16 (UTC). 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