George Clint (12 April 1770 – 10 May 1854) was an English

portrait painter Portrait Painting is a genre in painting, where the intent is to represent a specific human subject. The term 'portrait painting' can also describe the actual painted portrait. Portraitists may create their work by commission, for public and pr ...

and engraver, especially notable for his many theatrical subjects.

Life

Clint was born in Brownlow Street, Drury Lane, Covent Garden,

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, the son of Michael Clint, a hairdresser in Lombard Street. He went to school in

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other English counties, functions have ...

and was then apprenticed to a

fishmonger A fishmonger (historically fishwife for female practitioners) is someone who sells raw fish and seafood. Fishmongers can be wholesalers or retailers and are trained at selecting and purchasing, handling, gutting, boning, filleting, displaying, m ...

, but left after a violent dispute with his employer. He found alternative employment in an attorney's office, but took exception to the work and became a house-painter instead - one of his jobs was painting the stones of the arches in the nave of

Westminster Abbey Westminster Abbey, formally titled the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster, is an historic, mainly Gothic church in the City of Westminster, London, England, just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is one of the Unite ...

. He also decorated the exterior of a house built by Sir Christopher Wren in

Cheapside Cheapside is a street in the City of London, the historic and modern financial centre of London, which forms part of the A40 London to Fishguard road. It links St. Martin's Le Grand with Poultry. Near its eastern end at Bank junction, where ...

, and was later employed by the bookseller

Thomas Tegg Thomas Tegg (1776–1845) was a British bookseller and publisher. Early life Tegg was the son of a grocer, born at Wimbledon, Surrey, on 4 March 1776, and was left an orphan at the age of five. He was sent to a boarding school at Galashiels in ...

. He married the daughter of a small farmer in Berkshire; they had five sons and four daughters. His wife died a fortnight after giving birth to their son

Alfred Alfred may refer to: Arts and entertainment *''Alfred J. Kwak'', Dutch-German-Japanese anime television series * ''Alfred'' (Arne opera), a 1740 masque by Thomas Arne * ''Alfred'' (Dvořák), an 1870 opera by Antonín Dvořák *"Alfred (Interlu ...

, who also became an artist. Clint took up

miniature A miniature is a small-scale reproduction, or a small version. It may refer to: * Portrait miniature, a miniature portrait painting * Miniature art, miniature painting, engraving and sculpture * Miniature (chess), a masterful chess game or probl ...

painting. He had a studio in Leadenhall Street, and he became acquainted with the publisher John Bell, whose nephew, the mezzotint engraver Edward Bell, taught Clint the art of engraving. His first in oil painting was a portrait of his wife. At this period Samuel Reynolds, the engraver, advised him to undertake

watercolour Watercolor (American English) or watercolour (British English; see spelling differences), also ''aquarelle'' (; from Italian diminutive of Latin ''aqua'' "water"), is a painting method”Watercolor may be as old as art itself, going back to t ...

portraits. Commissions proving scarce, he made copies, in colour, from prints after

George Morland George Morland (26 June 176329 October 1804) was an English painter. His early work was influenced by Francis Wheatley, but after the 1790s he came into his own style. His best compositions focus on rustic scenes: farms and hunting; smugglers a ...

and

Teniers Teniers is a Dutch language surname. It may refer to: *Abraham Teniers (1629–1670), Flemish painter *David Teniers the Elder David Teniers the Elder (158229 July 1649), Flemish painter, was born at Antwerp. Biography Having received his fi ...

; he reproduced Morland's ''The Enraged Bull'' and ''The Horse struck by Lightning'' several times. Around 1816, his studio at 83 Gower Street, was a meeting place of the leading actors and actresses of the day. This popularity arose from a series of dramatic scenes which he painted, such as "

William Farren William Farren (13 May 1786 – 24 September 1861) was an English actor, who was the son of an actor (born 1725) of the same name, who played leading roles from 1784 to 1795 at Theatre Royal, Covent Garden. Life Raised on Gower Street in Lo ...

, Farley, and Jones as Lord Ogleby, Canton, and Brush" in the comedy ''

The Clandestine Marriage ''The Clandestine Marriage'' is a comedy by George Colman the Elder and David Garrick, first performed in 1766 at Drury Lane. It is both a comedy of manners and a comedy of errors. The idea came from a series of pictures by William Hogarth entit ...

''. Clint was elected an associate of the Royal Academy in 1821, a position he resigned in 1836, after repeated disappointments in not being made a full academician. He subsequently took a house in Peckham, but moved to Pembroke Square, where he died on 10 May 1864.

Works

Falstaff relating his valiant exploits (Clint, c

He painted portraits of Lord Suffield and his family, Lord Egremont, Lord Essex, Lord Spencer, General Wyndham, and many others. He executed several theatrical portraits for a Mrs. Griffiths of Norwood, some of which were destroyed by fire. His ''Falstaff and Mistress Ford'' is in the

Tate Gallery Tate is an institution that houses, in a network of four art galleries, the United Kingdom's national collection of British art, and international modern and contemporary art. It is not a government institution, but its main sponsor is the U ...

. His early engravings include ''The Frightened Horse'', after

George Stubbs George Stubbs (25 August 1724 – 10 July 1806) was an English painter, best known for his paintings of horses. Self-trained, Stubbs learnt his skills independently from other great artists of the 18th century such as Joshua Reynolds, Reynold ...

; ''The Entombment'', after Dietrich; ''The Death of Nelson'', after

Samuel Drummond Samuel Drummond (25 December 1766, London – 6 August 1844, London) was a British painter, especially prolific in portrait and marine genre painting. His works are on display in the National Portrait Gallery, the National Maritime Museum and ...

, and a set of the

Raphael cartoons The Raphael Cartoons are seven large cartoons for tapestries, belonging to the British Royal Collection but since 1865 on loan to the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, designed by the High Renaissance painter Raphael in 1515–16 and show ...

in outline. His

mezzotint Mezzotint is a monochrome printmaking process of the '' intaglio'' family. It was the first printing process that yielded half-tones without using line- or dot-based techniques like hatching, cross-hatching or stipple. Mezzotint achieves tonal ...

s included ''The Trial of Queen Caroline'', after George Henry Harlow; a portrait of the William Pitt, after

John Hoppner John Hoppner (4 April 175823 January 1810) was an English portrait painter, much influenced by Reynolds, who achieved fame as a brilliant colourist. Early life Hoppner was born in Whitechapel, London, the son of German parents – his moth ...

; a portrait of Margaret, Lady Dundas, after

Thomas Lawrence Sir Thomas Lawrence (13 April 1769 – 7 January 1830) was an English portrait painter and the fourth president of the Royal Academy. A child prodigy, he was born in Bristol and began drawing in Devizes, where his father was an innkeeper at ...

; a portrait of Miss Siddons, again after Lawrence, and a print after a self-portrait by Sir Joshua Reynolds. There are also portraits of the engraver George Cook; the publisher John Bell; the actors

Edmund Kean Edmund Kean (4 November 178715 May 1833) was a celebrated British Shakespearean stage actor born in England, who performed, among other places, in London, Belfast, New York, Quebec, and Paris. He was known for his short stature, tumultuo ...

Charles Young Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English and French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''*karilaz'' (in Latin alphabet), whose meaning was " ...

(as Hamlet), William Dowton and

John Liston John Liston (c. 1776 – 22 March 1846), English comedian, was born in London. He made his public debut on the stage at Weymouth as Lord Duberley in ''The Heir at Law''. After several dismal failures in tragic parts, some of them in supp ...

(the latter as Paul Pry) and the actresses

Lucia Elizabeth Vestris Lucia Elizabeth Vestris (''née'' Elizabetta Lucia Bartolozzi; 3 March 1797 – 8 August 1856) was an English actress and a contralto opera singer, appearing in works by, among others, Mozart and Rossini. While popular in her time, she was mor ...

and

Julia Glover Julia Betterton Glover (8 January 1779 – 16 July 1850) was an Irish-born stage actress well known for her comic roles in the late 18th and 19th centuries. Biography Glover was born Julia Butterton in 1779 or 1781 in Newry, Ireland. In Lo ...

Family

One of Clint's sons, Scipio Clint, was a notable medallist and seal engraver. Of his other sons Raphael Clint (1797–1849) was an engraver and

Alfred Clint Alfred Clint (1807–1883) was an English marine painter. Life Clint was the fifth and youngest son by the first marriage of George Clint, A.R.A. He was born in Alfred Place, Bedford Square, London, on 22 March 1807. He acquired the technic ...

(1807–1833) a marine painter.

References

External links

*
Works by George Clint at the National Portrait Gallery, LondonEngravings by Clint on Grosvenor Prints"
* ttp://www.racollection.org.uk/ixbin/indexplus?_IXACTION_=file&_IXFILE_=templates/full/person.html&_IXTRAIL_=Academicians&person=5579 Profile on Royal Academy of Arts Collectionsbr>Portrait of a Gentleman
(Oil on canvas - Christie's)
Portrait of Colonel John Edmund Harvey
(oil on canvas, 1844) {{DEFAULTSORT:Clint, George 18th-century English painters English male painters 19th-century English painters English watercolourists English engravers English portrait painters Portrait miniaturists 1770 births 1854 deaths People from Covent Garden Associates of the Royal Academy 19th-century English male artists 18th-century English male artists

Life

Works

Family

References

Further reading

External links