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Charles Catton RA (1728 in
He was a founding member of the
(British History Online).
His son, Charles Catton the younger (1756–1819), who was listed in Royal Academy catalogues as living at his father's house in Gate Street, gained a reputation as a scene-painter and topographical draughtsman. He emigrated to the United States. Among Catton's pupils were John Durand, his own son Charles Catton the younger, his own brother James and William Owen, who became a member of the Royal Academy himself.
A Biographical Dictionary of Actors, Volume 3
' p116 (SIU Press, 1975).
(Norwich Castle Museum – 2 Jan 2010)
Charles Catton Senior (1728–1798)
(Norwich Castle Museum – 2 Jan 2010) {{DEFAULTSORT:Catton, Charles 1728 births 1798 deaths 18th-century English painters English male painters English watercolourists British landscape artists British painters of animals Artists from Norwich Royal Academicians 18th-century English male artists
Norwich
Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of the county of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. It lies by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. The population of the Norwich ...
– 28 August 1798, in London
London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
), sometimes referred to as Charles Catton the elder, was an English coach painter, landscape
A landscape is the visible features of an area of land, its landforms, and how they integrate with natural or human-made features, often considered in terms of their aesthetic appeal.''New Oxford American Dictionary''. A landscape includes th ...
, animal and figure painter of the late 18th century, and one of the founder members of the Royal Academy of Arts
The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House in Piccadilly London, England. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its ...
.
Life and work
Catton was born inNorwich
Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of the county of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. It lies by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. The population of the Norwich ...
, Norfolk, in 1728, and said to be one of 35 children that his father had from his two marriages. He was apprenticed to a London coach painter, or, according to some sources, a carpenter by the name of Maxwell, and studied drawing at the St. Martin's Lane Academy. He was mainly known as a landscape and animal painter, but also had a good knowledge of the figure, and a talent for humorous design. In 1781, he published an etching called ''The Margate Packet''.
He became a member of the Society of Artists, and exhibited various pictures in its galleries in 1760–1764. He was outstanding as a coach painter, producing ornamental panels for carriages, floral embellishments, and heraldic devices to the highest quality, eventually becoming coach-painter to King George III.
He was a founding member of the Royal Academy
The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House in Piccadilly London, England. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its ...
, and, in 1784, was master of the Worshipful Company of Painter-Stainers. He exhibited at the Academy from its foundation until the year of his death. The works he showed were usually landscapes, but occasionally subject and animal paintings, his last exhibits there being ''Jupiter and Leda'' and ''Child at play''. He painted an altarpiece
An altarpiece is a painting or sculpture, including relief, of religious subject matter made for placing at the back of or behind the altar of a Christian church. Though most commonly used for a single work of art such as a painting or sculpture, ...
, ''The Angel delivering St. Peter'', for the church of St Peter Mancroft in Norwich.
He retired from painting some years before his death. He died at his house in Judd Place, New Road, London, on 28 August 1798, and was buried in Bloomsbury cemetery.Nos 3 and 4 Gate Street(British History Online).
His son, Charles Catton the younger (1756–1819), who was listed in Royal Academy catalogues as living at his father's house in Gate Street, gained a reputation as a scene-painter and topographical draughtsman. He emigrated to the United States. Among Catton's pupils were John Durand, his own son Charles Catton the younger, his own brother James and William Owen, who became a member of the Royal Academy himself.
References
AttributionFurther reading
*Philip H. Highfill, Kalman A. Burnim, Edward A. Langhans.A Biographical Dictionary of Actors, Volume 3
' p116 (SIU Press, 1975).
External links
*(Norwich Castle Museum – 2 Jan 2010)
Charles Catton Senior (1728–1798)
(Norwich Castle Museum – 2 Jan 2010) {{DEFAULTSORT:Catton, Charles 1728 births 1798 deaths 18th-century English painters English male painters English watercolourists British landscape artists British painters of animals Artists from Norwich Royal Academicians 18th-century English male artists