Benjamin Robert Haydon was a British painter who specialised in grand historical pictures, although he painted a few contemporary subjects and portraits.
18 Facts About Benjamin Haydon
2.
Benjamin Haydon was troubled by financial problems throughout his life, which led to several periods of imprisonment for debt.
3.
Benjamin Haydon gave lectures on art, and kept extensive diaries that were published after his death.
4.
Benjamin Haydon was so enthusiastic that Henry Fuseli asked when he found time to eat.
5.
In 1807, at the age of 21, Haydon exhibited, for the first time, at the Royal Academy.
6.
Benjamin Haydon became involved in disputes with Beaumont, for whom he had painted a picture of Macbeth, and with Richard Payne Knight, who had outraged Haydon by denying both the aesthetic and the financial value of the sculptures from the Parthenon, recently brought to Britain by Lord Elgin.
7.
Benjamin Haydon was fascinated by the "Elgin Marbles", and believed that they provided evidence that ancient Greek artists had studied anatomy.
8.
At Francois Gerard's studio he saw a portrait of Napoleon, and began to develop a fascination with the defeated French leader, although, unlike some of his more radical friends such as William Hazlitt, Benjamin Haydon never admired him politically.
9.
In 1823 Benjamin Haydon spent two months imprisoned for debt in the King's Bench Prison, where he received consoling letters from leading men of the day.
10.
Benjamin Haydon later blamed the article for his loss of clientele, and falling back into unmanageable levels of debt.
11.
Attempts to raise subscriptions to fund the painting failed, and only sketches were ever made, but Benjamin Haydon did receive a commission from the new Whig prime minister, Lord Grey, for a picture of the Reform Banquet held at the Guildhall.
12.
Benjamin Haydon made a painting of the Meeting of the Anti-Slavery Society, now in the National Portrait Gallery.
13.
Benjamin Haydon became well known as a lecturer on painting, and from 1835 onwards travelled throughout England and Scotland on lecture tours.
14.
Benjamin Haydon campaigned to have the country's public buildings decorated with history paintings showing the glories of the nation's past, and within three days of the destruction of the Palace of Westminster by fire in 1834 he visited the prime minister, Lord Melbourne, in order to impress on him the importance of government patronage of art, especially in relation to the opportunities offered by the rebuilding made necessary by the disaster.
15.
Benjamin Haydon then painted The Banishment of Aristides, which was exhibited, along with other works, at the Egyptian Hall in Piccadilly, where he had hired a gallery several times over the years.
16.
Benjamin Haydon left a widow and three surviving children, who were generously supported by Haydon's friends, including Sir Robert Peel, the Count d'Orsay, Thomas Talfourd, and Lord Carlisle.
17.
In 1839 Benjamin Haydon began work on an autobiography, drawing on materials from his extensive diaries.
18.
Benjamin Haydon's Lectures, published shortly after their delivery, showed that he was as bold a writer as painter.