MeisterDrucke - Art Prints, Paintings & Reproductions

Artists in the Spotlight: Joseph Highmore

Portraitist, history painter, illustrator, author and much more was Joseph Highmore. Although his uncle is already court artist with William III. was from Orange, Joseph was encouraged to seek a legal education rather than a career in painting. In addition to his studies, he visited the drawing academy of the late 17th-century portrait painter, Sir Godfrey Kneller , and soon devoted himself entirely to painting. He married the poet Susanna Hiller and attended art schools and anatomy lectures of the famous surgeon and anatomist William Cheselden. Highmore devoted himself to portraiture and worked in a more realistic style by Kneller. Later, he also drew inspiration from French rococo painters and illustrators Mercier and Gravelot, as well as Flemish Baroque master Peter Paul Rubens . After numerous study trips, which led him, among others, to Paris to study contemporary art, he also devoted himself to history painting and biblical motifs. One of them is "Hagar and Ismael", which is now part of the art collection of the Foundling Museum in London. Also known is "The Angel of Mercy" (The Angel of Mercy, 1746). The image depicts an angel trying to stop a woman from strangling her baby by pointing to a newly built hospital - the Foundling Hospital. For this, Highmore served as a director and often as a donor. His 12-part series "Pamela" in collaboration with the engraver Guillame Benoist, shows scenes from the novel "Pamela or the rewarded virtue" by Samuel Richardson and was divided between the National Gallery of Victoria, the Fitzwilliam Museum and the Tate Britain. He worked on these works between 1741 and 1744. The bestselling author created a friendship that brought Highmore a new model, but also numerous stays in high society - the higher circles were enthusiastic about his portraiture. His drawing talent and anatomical knowledge also led him to illustrate a book on the anatomy of the human body of Cheselden. He also exhibited at the first exhibition of the Society of Artists of Great Britain. In 2017, the Foundling Museum hosted an exhibition that featured decades of work by Highmore, with a focus on social criticism in his paintings. Just a few years after the Society of Artists exhibition, Highmore sold much of his art collection (including the "Pamela" series), retreating from painting and living with his daughter and son-in-law. Now he worked primarily as an art writer and as an author of essays, pamphlets and essays on the methods of perspective. He died in Canterbury in 1780, at the age of 87.