__NOTOC__ Thomas Malton (1748 – 7 March 1804; also known as Thomas Malton the Younger), was an English painter of topographical and architectural views, and an engraver.

J. M. W. Turner Joseph Mallord William Turner (23 April 177519 December 1851), known in his time as William Turner, was an English Romantic painter, printmaker and watercolourist. He is known for his expressive colouring, imaginative landscapes and turbul ...

and Thomas Girtin were amongst his pupils. He is designated "the younger" to differentiate him from his father

Thomas Malton, the Elder Thomas Malton, the elder (1726–1801) was an English architectural draughtsman and writer on geometry. Life Born in London, Malton originally kept an upholsterer's shop in the Strand. He contributed two drawings of St. Martin's Church to the ex ...

Life and work

Malton was born in London, the son of Thomas Malton the Elder (1726–1801), a notable architectural draughtsman and writer on

geometry Geometry (; ) is, with arithmetic, one of the oldest branches of mathematics. It is concerned with properties of space such as the distance, shape, size, and relative position of figures. A mathematician who works in the field of geometry is c ...

. He was with his father during the latter's residence in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 ...

, and then passed three years in the office of

James Gandon James Gandon (20 February 1743 – 24 December 1823) was an English architect best known for his work in Ireland during the late 18th century and early 19th century. His better known works include The Custom House and the surrounding Beresford ...

the architect, in London. In 1774 Malton received a premium from the

Society of Arts The Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA), also known as the Royal Society of Arts, is a London-based organisation committed to finding practical solutions to social challenges. The RSA acronym is used m ...

. He entered the

Royal Academy The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly in London. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its pur ...

and in 1782 gained a gold medal for his design for a theatre. In 1773 he sent the Academy a view of

Covent Garden Covent Garden is a district in London, on the eastern fringes of the West End, between St Martin's Lane and Drury Lane. It is associated with the former fruit-and-vegetable market in the central square, now a popular shopping and tourist si ...

, and was afterwards a constant exhibitor, chiefly of views of London streets and buildings, drawn in Indian ink and tinted. In these there is little attempt at pictorial effect, but their extreme accuracy in the architectural details renders them of great interest and value as topographical records. They are enlivened with groups of figures, in which Malton is said to have been assisted by Francis Wheatley. After leaving Ireland, Malton appears to have always lived in London – with the exception of a brief stay at

Bath Bath may refer to: * Bathing, immersion in a fluid ** Bathtub, a large open container for water, in which a person may wash their body ** Public bathing, a public place where people bathe * Thermae, ancient Roman public bathing facilities Plac ...

in 1780. From 1783 to 1789 he resided in Conduit Street in London where at an evening drawing class which he held there, he received as pupils, Thomas Girtin and a young J M W Turner, whose father brought him to be taught on perspective. Turner paid tribute to him in later life by saying "my real master was Tom Malton". In 1791 Malton moved to Great Titchfield Street, and finally, in 1796, to

Long Acre Long Acre is a street in the City of Westminster in central London. It runs from St Martin's Lane, at its western end, to Drury Lane in the east. The street was completed in the early 17th century and was once known for its coach-makers, and la ...

. He made a few of the drawings for William Watts's ''Seats of the Nobility and Gentry'' published in 1779, William Watts. ''The seats of the nobility and gentry in a collection of the most interesting & picturesque views '' (1779). and executed some large

aquatint Aquatint is an intaglio (printmaking), intaglio printmaking technique, a variant of etching that produces areas of tone rather than lines. For this reason it has mostly been used in conjunction with etching, to give both lines and shaded tone. ...

s of buildings in both London and Bath, being one of the first to avail himself of the newly introduced art of aquatinta for the purpose of multiplying copies of his views. He also painted some scenes for the

Covent Garden Theatre The Royal Opera House (ROH) is an opera house and major performing arts venue in Covent Garden, central London. The large building is often referred to as simply Covent Garden, after a previous use of the site. It is the home of The Royal Ope ...

.In 1792 Malton published the work by which he is now best known, 'A Picturesque Tour through the Cities of London and Westminster', illustrated with a hundred aquatint plates. Between 1798–1800 he produced ''Views from Cambridge'', and at the time of his death was engaged upon a similar series of views of

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

, some of which appeared in parts in 1802, and were reissued with others in 1810. Thomas Malton the Younger, himself, was painted by American artist Gilbert Stuart. Malton died in Long Acre, London, on 7 March 1804, leaving a widow and six children.

Family

A portrait of his son Charles as a child was drawn and water-coloured by Sir

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 ...

; it was engraved by F C Lewis. The water colour was recently sold by

Christie's Christie's is a British auction house founded in 1766 by James Christie. Its main premises are on King Street, St James's in London, at Rockefeller Center in New York City and at Alexandra House in Hong Kong. It is owned by Groupe Artémi ...

. One other version was in the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

. Charles (born 1788) was an apprentice of and worked with Sir

John Soane Sir John Soane (; né Soan; 10 September 1753 – 20 January 1837) was an English architect who specialised in the Neo-Classical style. The son of a bricklayer, he rose to the top of his profession, becoming professor of architecture at the R ...

on the architectural drawings of the

Bank of England The Bank of England is the central bank of the United Kingdom and the model on which most modern central banks have been based. Established in 1694 to act as the English Government's banker, and still one of the bankers for the Government o ...

. Details in the Sir John Soane Museum show an apology letter from Charles for talking to Soane's servants. After qualifying from study, Charles married an heiress and seems never to have practiced as an architect. Thomas Malton the Younger's brother

James Malton James Malton (1761–1803) was an Irish engraver and watercolourist, who once taught geometry and perspective. He worked briefly as a draughtsman in the office of the celebrated Irish architect James Gandon. He is best known for a series of p ...

(1761–1803) was also a notable artist, draughtsman and engraver in Ireland and London.

Works

Works by Malton can be found in the UK Government art collection and the

Victoria and Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (often abbreviated as the V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.27 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and nam ...

in London; the

Victoria Art Gallery The Victoria Art Gallery is a public art museum in Bath, Somerset, England. It was opened in 1900 to commemorate Queen Victoria's diamond jubilee. It is a Grade II* listed building and houses over 1,500 objects of art including a collection o ...

in Bath, Somerset and the

State Hermitage Museum The State Hermitage Museum ( rus, Государственный Эрмитаж, r=Gosudarstvennyj Ermitaž, p=ɡəsʊˈdarstvʲɪn(ː)ɨj ɪrmʲɪˈtaʂ, links=no) is a museum of art and culture in Saint Petersburg, Russia. It is the larges ...

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

, Russia.

Life and work

Family

Works

References

External links