Benjamin Robert Haydon
| Benjamin Robert Haydon | |
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Self-portrait of Benjamin Robert Haydon, c.1845
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| Born |
Benjamin Robert Haydon 26 January 1786 Plymouth, England |
| Died | 22 June 1846 (aged 60) |
| Cause of death | Suicide |
| Nationality | English |
| Occupation | Painter |
| Children | 3 |
Benjamin Robert Haydon (/ˈheɪdən/; 26 January 1786 – 22 June 1846) was an English painter who specialised in grand historical pictures, although he also painted a few contemporary subjects and portraits. His commercial success was damaged by his often tactless dealings with patrons, and by the enormous scale on which he preferred to work. He was troubled by financial problems throughout his life, which led to several periods of imprisonment for debt. He committed suicide in 1846.
He gave lectures on art, and kept extensive diaries that were published after his death.
Haydon was born in Plymouth, the only son of another Benjamin Robert Haydon, a prosperous printer, stationer and publisher, and his wife Mary, the daughter of the Rev. Benjamin Cobley, rector of Dodbrooke, near Kingsbridge, Devon. At an early age he showed an aptitude for study, which was carefully fostered by his mother. At the age of six he was placed in Plymouth Grammar School, and at twelve in Plympton Grammar School, where Sir Joshua Reynolds had received most of his education. Reading Albinus inspired him with a love for anatomy, and from childhood he wanted to become a painter.
Full of energy and hope, he left home, on 14 May 1804, for London, where he entered the Royal Academy Schools. He was so enthusiastic that Henry Fuseli asked when he found time to eat. In 1807, at the age of 21, Haydon exhibited, for the first time, at the Royal Academy. The painting he entered, The Repose in Egypt, was bought by Thomas Hope a year later for the Egyptian Room at his townhouse in Duchess Street. This was a good start for Haydon, who shortly afterwards received a commission from Lord Mulgrave and an introduction to Sir George Beaumont. In 1809 he finished his picture of Dentatus, which, though it increased his fame, resulted in a lifelong quarrel with the Royal Academy, whose committee hung it in a small side-room instead of in the great hall. That same year, he took on his first pupil, Charles Lock Eastlake, later a leading figure in the British art establishment.
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