Mason Chamberlin (1727 – 20 January 1787) was an English

portrait painter Portrait painting is a Hierarchy of genres, 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 commissio ...

, who was one of the founding members 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 ...

in 1768. He was a student of

Francis Hayman Francis Hayman (1708 – 2 February 1776) was an English painter and illustrator who became one of the founding members of the Royal Academy in 1768, and later its first librarian. Life and works Born in Exeter, Devon, Hayman begun his arti ...

. He is perhaps best remembered for his portrait of Benjamin Franklin.

Life

Chamberlin was a pupil of

. In 1768 he was one of the founding members of the

. He exhibited 50 works at the academy between 1769 and 1786. All were portraits. The subjects of most of them are unnamed in the catalogues but in 1771 he showed a full-length painting of Prince Edward and Princess Augusta and in 1774 one of Catharine Macaulay. He also showed 22 works at the Society of Artists and two at the Free Society of Artists. His address is given as 7, Stuart Street,

Spitalfields Spitalfields () is an area in London, England and is located in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It is in East London and situated in the East End of London, East End. Spitalfields is formed around Commercial Street, London, Commercial Stre ...

in the Academy catalogues and from 1785 as 10, Bartlett's Buildings.

Franklin portrait

He is perhaps best known for a portrait of

Benjamin Franklin Benjamin Franklin (April 17, 1790) was an American polymath: a writer, scientist, inventor, statesman, diplomat, printer, publisher and Political philosophy, political philosopher.#britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Wood, 2021 Among the m ...

, commissioned by wealthy

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

n landowner and friend of Franklin's in London, Colonel Philip Ludwell III, and painted from life in 1762. It shows Franklin seated in his study with lightning striking outside the window in the background, and a

lightning rod A lightning rod or lightning conductor (British English) is a metal rod mounted on a structure and intended to protect the structure from a lightning strike. If lightning hits the structure, it is most likely to strike the rod and be conducted ...

on his house. He looks to the left at a set of lightning bells (a device of his own invention), which would ring to signal when lightning was striking the rod. Franklin could then use the electricity in order to perform his experiments. Later in 1762 (or early 1763) a popular

mezzotint Mezzotint is a monochrome printmaking process of the intaglio (printmaking), 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. Mezzo ...

was made after it (possibly as part of the agreement between Chamberlin and Ludwell), by the Irish-born engraver Edward Fisher (1730–1785). Franklin's son William ordered 100 copies to sell in America, 18 of which Franklin distributed himself, mostly to friends in New England such as Mather Byles, Ezra Stiles, and his niece's husband, Jonathan Williams. This was Franklin's favorite print during the time, partially because of the accurate likeness. The original painting is owned by the

Philadelphia Museum of Art The Philadelphia Museum of Art (PMA) is an List of art museums#North America, art museum originally chartered in 1876 for the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia. The main museum building was completed in 1928 on Fairmount, a hill located at ...

. Franklin's son

William William is a masculine given name of Germanic languages, Germanic origin. It became popular in England after the Norman Conquest, Norman conquest in 1066,All Things William"Meaning & Origin of the Name"/ref> and remained so throughout the Middle ...

also commissioned a replica of this painting to be made, for Franklin to give him as a gift to hang in the dining room of William's new home — the copy is presumed to have been sent to America, but has since been destroyed.

Death

He died at Bartlett's Buildings,

Holborn Holborn ( or ), an area in central London, covers the south-eastern part of the London Borough of Camden and a part (St Andrew Holborn (parish), St Andrew Holborn Below the Bars) of the Wards of the City of London, Ward of Farringdon Without i ...

, on 20 January 1787.

Family

His son, also called Mason, was a prolific painter who exhibited 68 landscapes in London between 1780 and 1827, of which 58 were shown at the Royal Academy.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Chamberlin, Mason 1727 births 1787 deaths 18th-century English painters English male painters Royal Academicians 18th-century English male artists