Benjamin Robert Haydon
1786 – 1846
English painter, who aspired to bring a new seriousness to British art through historical and religious work in the Grand Manner preached by Reynolds. His life was a story of bombastic frustration and intransigent opposition to the establishment (particularly the Royal Academy), fighting continuously for personal recognition and arguing for the social purpose of art. As a painter, however, his talents fell far short of his ambitions, his multi-figure compositions degenerating into turgid melodrama.
2 artworks in collection
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