Henry William Pecjersgill

HENRY WILLIAM PICKERSGILL (England, 1782 -1875) .
"Portrait of a lady".
Oil on canvas. Relined.
It has slight damage, scratches and restorations.
Measurements: 127 x 102 cm; 142 x 115 cm (frame).
Henry William Pickersgill was an English painter specialized in the portrait and one of the most outstanding figures of the British painting of the XIX century. A member of the Royal Academy for almost fifty years, he portrayed numerous important figures of his time, establishing himself as one of the great visual chroniclers of Victorian society.
Born in London, Pickersgill was adopted in his youth by Mr. Hall, a silk manufacturer from Spitalfields, who financed his education and later incorporated him into the family business. However, economic difficulties resulting from the war led him to direct his artistic talents towards a professional career. Between 1802 and 1805 he trained as a pupil of the landscape painter George Arnald and, in November 1805, he entered the Royal Academy schools as a student.
His early works dealt with a wide variety of subjects, from landscapes to classical and historical compositions, although he soon found his true vocation in portraiture. His first work exhibited at the Royal Academy was a portrait of his benefactor, Mr. Hall, and over the course of his life he presented a total of 384 paintings there. He was elected an associate member of the institution in 1822 and a full academician in 1826.
Considered one of the most outstanding portraitists of his time, Pickersgill painted such influential personalities as Robert Peel, William Wordsworth, George Stephenson, Jeremy Bentham, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Lord Nelson, the Duke of Wellington and Michael Faraday. Particularly famous is the portrait of James Silk Buckingham and his wife Elizabeth in Arab dress, painted in 1816, a work that reflects both the writer's oriental travels and the contemporary taste for orientalist exoticism. The National Portrait Gallery in London holds more than fifty of his works, including oil paintings and engravings, as well as some portraits of Pickersgill himself by other artists.
Between 1856 and 1864 he held the position of librarian of the Royal Academy. He retired from the institution in December 1872.