William Owen (painter)

William Owen RA (1769-1825) was an English portrait painter known for his portraits of society figures such as Pitt the Younger and George, Prince of Wales (later King George IV).

William Owen was born at 13 Broad Street, Ludlow, Shropshire in 1769 and was baptised on 3 November in Ludlow Parish Church. Owen's father, Jeremiah Owen, had trained for the church but instead chose to follow in his father's profession and took over the family barber shop which he later expanded into a stationary and bookshop. Owen found his talent at a young age, and would frequently be found sketching the scenery of his surrounding area, his first identifiable work being a drawing of Ludlow Castle, which is thought to have been given to Margaret Maskelyne, Lady Clive (1735-1817).

In 1786 Owen moved to London, where he was apprenticed to the coach painter Charles Cotton, RA (1728–1798).This position was most likely arranged by his uncle, who was butler to the scholar and art theorist Richard Payne Knight, who lived near Ludlow. It appears that Owen was drawn to figure painting from the outset, and after copying a portrait by Sir Joshua Reynolds of the much admired actress Mary Robinson (better known as 'Perdita'), he was sent on the recommendation of Reynolds to the Royal Academy Schools in 1791.

By 1794 Owen had moved out of his lodgings with Cotton on Gate Street and into a new to studio at No.211 Piccadilly where he remained for two years before moving to No.5 Coventry Street, Haymarket. It is whilst living here that he presumably came into contact with future wife Lener Leaf, whose father worked in Haymarket as a shoe maker.

By 1797 Owen was working as a studio assistant to John Hoppner, who by this point was struggling to keep up with the demand for copies of his portraits. Owen was clearly also experiencing some success in his own right, for in the same year he painted Lener, along with her younger sister, and exhibited the portrait at Somerset House – the then location of Royal Academy exhibitions, receiving a great deal of praise and encouragement. Owen married Lener later that year on 2 December and their son William was born soon after.

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