Mather Brown

British, 1761 - 1831

BiographyAmerican painter. He was born in Boston to an influential family and studied under Gilbert Stuart in 1773 during Stuart's brief return to America. He arrived in London in 1781 and was accepted as a free student by West on Benjamin Franklin's recommendation. He entered the RA Schools in 1782 and exhibited four portraits the following year, in a style influenced by Stuart and Reynolds . By 1786 he was painting portraits of popular figures, like John Howard (n.d.; London, NPG), the prison reformer, and military heroes, such as Lord Heathfield ( 1788 ), for engraving. In 1788 he painted the Prince of Wales (London, Royal Coll.) and was appointed historical and portrait painter to the Duke of York, but his success was short-lived. Disinherited by his father and increasingly obsessed by history painting, which proved unsaleable, he left London in 1809 and worked in Bristol (his Baptism of Henry VIII is in Bristol AG), Bath, and Lancashire until 1824 when he returned to London. By now he was financially independent but continued to work incessantly, surrounded by his ambitious unsold canvases.

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