Editing William Dobson

{{short description|English painter}}

{{other people||William Dobson (disambiguation)}}
[[File:Portrait of the artist, bust length in a black tunic and white collar.jpg|thumb|Self-portrait, late 1630s]]
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2021}}
{{Use British English|date=July 2012}}

'''William Dobson''' (4 March 1611 (baptised);<ref>London Metropolitan Archives, St Andrew Holborn, Register of baptisms, 1558 - 1623, P82/AND2/A/001/MS06667, Item 001</ref> 28 October 1646 (buried)<ref name = "DNB">[http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/7719?docPos=2 Katherine Gibson, ''William Dobson'', Oxford Online Dictionary of National Biography, 2004]</ref>) was a [[portraitist]] and one of the first significant English painters, praised by his contemporary [[John Aubrey]] as "''the most excellent painter that England has yet bred''".<ref>[http://www.npg.org.uk/whatson/display/2011/william-dobson-1611-46.php National Portrait Gallery - William Dobson]</ref> He died relatively young and his final years were disrupted by the [[English Civil War]].

== Biography ==

[[File:William_Dobson_-_Portrait_of_the_artist_with_Nicholas_Lanier_and_Sir_Charles_Cotterell.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Portrait of the artist, William Dobson (centre), with [[Nicholas Lanier]] (left) and Sir [[Charles Cotterell]] (right), c. 1645]]
[[File:William Dobson - The Executioner with the Head of John the Baptist - Google Art Project.jpg|thumbnail|The Executioner with the Head of John the Baptist, c. 1640]]

Dobson was born in London, the son of a lawyer also called William Dobson. He was [[baptised]] at [[St Andrew Holborn (church)|St Andrew's Holborn]].<ref name="TV">[https://williamdobson.tv/biography/ Biography used for television series]. Retrieved 10 May 2021.</ref> He was apprenticed to [[William Peake]] and probably later joined the studio of [[Francis Cleyn]]. There is a claim that his father was a decorative artist, but this may be a misreading of the single known quote about Dobson Sr, by the antiquarian [[John Aubrey]], which states that William senior assisted [[Francis Bacon]] with the designs of [[Verulam House, St Albans (17th century)|Verulam House]] but "he spending his estate upon women, necessity forced his son ... to be the most excellent painter that England hath yet bred".<ref>Jones, "The King's Painter", p27</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/47787/pg47787-images.html|title='Brief Lives,' chiefly of Contemporaries, set down by John Aubrey, between the Years 1669 & 1696 EDITED FROM THE AUTHOR'S MSS. BY ANDREW CLARK M.A., LINCOLN COLLEGE, OXFORD; M.A. AND LL.D., ST. ANDREWS WITH FACSIMILES - VOLUME I. (A-H)|location=Oxford|year=1898}}</ref>

Dobson is believed to have had access to the [[Royal Collection]] and to have copied works by [[Titian]] and [[Anthony van Dyck]], the court painter of King [[Charles I of England]]. The colour and texture of Dobson's work was influenced by [[Venetian painting]], but van Dyck's style had little apparent influence on Dobson.<ref>{{cite journal|url=https://www.bonhams.com/magazine/21828/|title=The Full English|author=Waldemar Januszczak|author-link=Waldemar Januszczak|journal=Bonhams Magazine|issue=47|date=Summer 2016|page=29}}</ref> The story that van Dyck himself discovered Dobson when he noticed one of the young artist's pictures in a London shop window is not supported by any evidence, nor do we know how he gained his introduction to the King, who had Dobson paint himself, his sons and members of the court.

[[File:William Dobson - Endymion Porter Around 1642-5 - Google Art Project.jpg|thumb|[[Endymion Porter]], c. 1642–1645]]
Little is known of Dobson's career in the 1630s, but when van Dyck died in 1641, the opportunity arose for him to gain royal commissions from King Charles. He is said to have become [[serjeant painter]] to the King and [[groom of the privy chamber]].<ref name ="DNB"/> However, this claim comes from only one old and as yet unverified source.<ref>Jones, "The King's Painter", p16.</ref> During the [[English Civil War]] Dobson was based at the [[Cavalier|Royalist]] centre of [[Oxford]] and painted many leading Cavaliers. His portrait of the future [[Charles II of England|Charles II]] as [[Prince of Wales]] at the age of around twelve is a notable [[baroque]] composition, and perhaps his finest work. He also painted at least the head of [[James II of England|Duke of York]], as well as portraits of leading Royalists such as Charles Lucas and [[John Byron, 1st Baron Byron]], [[Prince Rupert of the Rhine]] and [[Prince Maurice von Simmern|Prince Maurice]].

== Works ==

[[File:Добсон портрет жены художника Джудит. Ок. 1634-1640.jpg|thumbnail|Portrait thought to be of the artist's second wife, Judith, c. 1635–1640<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/dobson-portrait-of-the-artists-wife-t06640|title= William Dobson Portrait of the Artist's Wife c.1635–40 |publisher=Tate Gallery|access-date=2 February 2015}}</ref>]]

Around sixty of Dobson's works survive, mostly half-length portraits dating from 1642 or later. The thick [[impasto]] of his early work gave way to a mere skim of paint, perhaps reflecting a wartime scarcity of materials. After Oxford fell to the [[roundhead|Parliamentarian]]s, in June 1646, Dobson returned to London. Now without patronage, he was briefly imprisoned for debt and died in poverty at the age of thirty-five.

[[Ellis Waterhouse]] described Dobson as "the most distinguished purely British painter before [[William Hogarth|Hogarth]]",<ref>E. K. Waterhouse, ''Painting in Britain 1530–1790'', 5th edn, New Haven and London 1994, p.80, quoted in [http://www.tate.org.uk/servlet/ViewWork?cgroupid=999999961&workid=20523&searchid=10649&roomid=false&tabview=text&texttype=10 United Kingdom Tate Gallery — William Dobson 1611–1646, ''Portrait of the Artist's Wife'' circa 1635–1640].</ref> and in the view of [[Waldemar Januszczak]] he was "the first British born genius, the first truly dazzling English painter".<ref>Waldemar Januszczak in part three of his BBC documentary series, [[Baroque! From St Peter's to St Paul's]]; and 'The first great British painter?' in Tate, 17, Spring 1999, p.62.</ref>

There are examples of Dobson's work at the [[National Gallery]], the [[National Gallery of Scotland]], [[Tate Britain]], the [[National Portrait Gallery (London)|National Portrait Gallery]], the [[National Maritime Museum]], [[Queen's House]] in Greenwich, the [[Walker Art Gallery]] in Liverpool, the [[Ferens Art Gallery]] in Hull, the [[Courtauld Institute of Art]], the [[Dulwich Picture Gallery]] in London, in several [[English country house]]s including notably [[Alnwick Castle]] where Dobson's self-portrait with [[Nicholas Lanier]] and [[Charles Cotterell]] is displayed, at the [[Yale Center for British Art]] in New Haven, CT, USA, and at the [[Dunedin Public Art Gallery]] in New Zealand.

The 2011 anniversary of his birth was marked by exhibitions, a 'Dobson Trail' listing his paintings on a website, and a [[BBC]] television profile by Januszczak, ''The Lost Genius of British Art: William Dobson''.<ref>[http://www.williamdobson.tv/ William Dobson 1611–1646].</ref>

== Personal life ==

He was married twice, first to Elizabeth, whose surname is unknown, as is the date of their marriage. She was buried in [[St Martin-in-the-Fields]] on 26 September 1634. On 18 December 1637 he married Judith Sander, who survived him.<ref name = "DNB"/>

<gallery perrow="4" widths="168" heights="220" caption="William Dobson's paintings">
File:William Dobson - Charles II, 1630 - 1685. King of Scots 1649 - 1685. King of England and Ireland 1660 - 1685 (When Prince of Wales, with a page) - Google Art Project.jpg|Charles II when Prince of Wales, c. 1642 or 1643.
File:William Dobson - Portrait of Abraham van der Doort - WGA6362.jpg|[[Abraham van der Doort]], c. 1640
File:Richard Neville by William Dobson.jpg|[[Richard Neville (soldier)|Richard Neville]], n.d.
File:William Dobson Edward Hyde Earl of Clarendon.jpg|[[Edward Hyde, 1st Earl of Clarendon]], c. 1643
File:Sir Richard Fanshawe (1608–1666), 1st Bt.jpeg|[[Sir Richard Fanshawe, 1st Baronet]], 1644
File:Sir Edward Dering (1598–1644), 1st Baronet by William Dobson.jpeg|[[Sir Edward Dering, 1st Baronet]], c. 1642
File:Probably Nicholas Oudart by William Dobson.jpg|[[Nicholas Oudart]], n.d.
File:Probably Sir Thomas Aylesbury, Bt by William Dobson.jpg|[[Sir Thomas Aylesbury, 1st Baronet]], n.d.
</gallery>

== References ==

{{Reflist}}

== Further reading ==
* R. F. Jones, ''William Dobson: The King's Painter'', Tyger's Head Books, 2016
* Malcolm Rogers, ''William Dobson, 1611–46'', 1983, [[National Portrait Gallery (London)|National Portrait Gallery]] Exhibition Catalogue, ISBN 0904017532
* John Aubrey, ''[[Brief Lives]]''.
* [[Waldemar Januszczak]], ''The first great British painter?'', Tate, 17, Spring 1999, p.&nbsp;62.

== External links ==

{{commons category|William Dobson}}

* {{Cite EB1911|wstitle=Dobson, William}}
* [http://www.npg.org.uk/live/search/person.asp?LinkID=mp01315&role=art United Kingdom National Portrait Gallery — William Dobson]
* [http://www.tate.org.uk/servlet/ArtistWorks?cgroupid=999999961&artistid=153&page=1 Tate Collection — William Dobson]
* [http://www.williamdobson.tv William Dobson 1611-1646, Biography, Paintings, Dobson Art Trail]
*{{Art UK bio}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dobson, William}}
[[Category:1611 births]]
[[Category:1646 deaths]]
[[Category:17th-century English painters]]
[[Category:English court painters]]
[[Category:English male painters]]
[[Category:English portrait painters]]
[[Category:Painters from London]]
[[Category:People imprisoned for debt]]