|
 HAMILTON,
GAVIN, a distinguished painter, was descended from the ancient family of
the Hamiltons of Murdieston, originally of Fife, but latterly of
Lanarkshire; and he was born in the town of Lanark. From a very early
period of his life, he entertained a strong love for historic painting.
It cannot be traced with any degree of certainty under what master he
first studied in his native country, as there was no fixed school of
painting established in Britain at the time, but being sent to Rome
while yet very young, he became a scholar of the celebrated Augustine
Mossuchi. On his return to Scotland after many years’ absence, his
friends wished him to apply himself to portrait-painting, but having
imbibed in Italy higher ideas of the art, after a few successful
attempts, he abandoned that line and attached himself entirely to
historic composition. Few of his portraits are to be found in Britain,
and of these two full lengths of the duke and duchess of Hamilton are
considered the best. The figure of the duchess with a greyhound leaping
upon her is well known by the mezzotinto prints taken from it, to be
found in almost every good collector’s hands. There is said to be
another unfinished portrait of the same duchess by him, in which the
then duke of Hamilton thought the likeness so very striking, that he
took it from the painter, and would never allow it to be finished, lest
the resemblance should be lost. He remained but a few months in his
native country, and returned to Rome, where he resided for the principal
part of his life. From the advantages of a liberal education, being
perfectly familiar with the works of the great masters of Grecian and
Roman literature, he displayed a highly classic taste in the choice of
his subjects; and the style at which he always and successfully aimed,
made him at least equal to his most celebrated contemporaries. The most
capital collection of Mr Hamilton’s paintings that can be seen in any
one place, was, and if we mistake not is at present, in a saloon in the
villa Borghese, which was wholly painted by him, and represents in
different compartments the story of Paris. These were painted on the
ceiling, and other scenes form a series of pictures round the alcove on
a smaller scale. This work, though its position be not what an artist
would choose as the most advantageous for exhibiting his finest efforts,
has long been accounted a performance of very high excellence. The
prince Borghese, as if with a view to do honour to Scottish artists, had
the adjoining apartment painted by Jacob More, who excelled as much in
landscape as Hamilton in historical painting. He had another saloon in
the same palace painted by Mengs, the most celebrated German artist, and
these three apartments were conceived to exhibit the finest specimens of
modern painting then to be found in Italy.
In his historical
pictures, some of which have come to Britain, Mr Hamilton plainly
discovers that he studied the chaste models of antiquity with more
attention than the living figures around him; which has given his
paintings of ancient histories that propriety with regard to costume,
which distinguished them, at the time from most modern compositions.
One of his greatest works
was his Homer, consisting of a series of pictures, representing scenes
taken from the Iliad; these have been dispersed into various parts of
Europe, and can now only be seen in one continued series in the
excellent engravings made of them by Cunego, under the eye of Mr
Hamilton himself. Several of these paintings came to Britain, but only
three reached Scotland. One of these, the parting of Hector and
Andromache, was in the possession of the duke of Hamilton. Another
represents the death of Lucretia, in the collection of the earl of
Hopetoun, and was deemed by all judges as a capital performance. The
third was in the house of Mrs Scott, in the neighbourhood of Edinburgh.
It represents Achilles dragging the body of Hector round the walls of
Troy,—a sublime picture, which if not the chef d’oeuvre
of Mr Hamilton, would alone have been sufficient to have transmitted
his name to posterity as one of the greatest artists, was painted for
the duke of Bedford, and had been in his possession some time before the
unfortunate accident which deprived him of his son the marquis of
Tavistock, whose disastrous fate had some resemblance to the story of
the picture being thrown from his horse and dragged to death, his foot
having stuck in the stirrup; none of the family could bear to look on
the picture, and it was ordered to be put away. General Scott became the
purchaser of it at a very moderate price. The figure of Achilles in this
picture is painted with surprising characteristic justness, spirit, and
fire, and might stand the test of the severest criticism. It was in the
grand and terrible Mr Hamilton chiefly excelled. His female characters
had more of the dignity of Juno, or the coldness of Diana, than the soft
inviting playfulness of the goddess of love.
He published at Rome in
1773 a folio volume, entitled "Schola Picturae Italiae," or the "Italian
School of Painting," composed of a number of line engravings by Cunego,
making part of the collection of Piraneisi; he there traces the
different styles from Leonardi da Vinci, to the Carraccis; all
the drawings were made by Mr Hamilton himself, and this admirable
collection now forms one of the principal treasures in the first
libraries in Europe. All his best pictures were likewise engraved under
his own eye by artists of the first ability, so that the world at large
has been enabled to form a judgment of the style and merit of his works.
In reference to the original pictures from whence the engravings were
taken, many contradictory opinions have been expressed; some have
considered his figures as wanting in the characteristic purity and
correctness of form so strictly observed in the antique-others have said
he was no colourist, though that was a point of his art after which he
was most solicitous. But setting all contending opinions apart, had Mr
Hamilton never painted a picture, the service he otherwise rendered to
the fine arts would be sufficient to exalt his name in the eyes of
posterity. From being profoundly acquainted with the history of the
ancient state of Italy, he was enabled to bring to light many of the
long buried treasures of antiquity, and to this noble object he devoted
almost the whole of the latter part of his life. He was permitted by the
government of the Roman states to open scavos in various places; at
Centumcellae, Velletri, Ostia, and above all at Tivoli, among the ruins
of Adrian’s villa; and it must be owned, that the success which crowned
his researches made ample amends for the loss which painting may have
suffered by the intermission of his practice and example. Many of
the first collections in Germany and Russia are enriched by statues,
busts, and bas relievos of his discovery.
In the collection of the
Museo Clementino, next to the treasures of Belvidere, the contributions
of Hamilton were by far the most important. The Apollo, with six of the
nine muses, were all of his finding. At the ruins of ancient Gabii
(celebrated by Virgil in his sixth book of the AEneid, and by Horace,
epistle xi. b. 1.) he was also very fortunate, particularly in the
discovery of a Diana, a Germanicus, a Pan, and several rich columns of
verd antique, and marmo fiortio. The paintings in fresco, preserved also
by his great care and research, are admitted to surpass all others found
in Italy.
He visited Scotland
several times in the decline of his life, and had serious thoughts of
settling altogether in Lanark, where he at one time gave orders for a
painting-room to be built for him; but finding the climate unsuitable to
his constitution, he abandoned the idea and returned to Rome, where he
died, according to Bryan’s account in his History of Painting, about
1775 or 1776.
All accounts of this artist agree in
stating, that however exalted his genius might be, it was far
surpassed by the benevolence and liberality of his character. |
