Ozias Humphry

As a member of the Royal Academy, and with the appointment ‘Portrait Painter in Crayons to the King’ in 1792, one might imagine that Ozias Humphry would be more than a footnote in the history of English art. However, despite his early well-received miniatures and later pastel works, the most common references to Humphry are as the friend and documenter of the life of George Stubbs, and as the possible artist of the ‘Rice Portrait’ of Jane Austen.

Ozias Humphry (1742-1810) was the son of a wig-maker from Devon and would become very much part of the 18^th century art world. He studied art in London at both Shipley’s school (from which the Royal Society of Arts would emerge) and the Duke of Richmond’s gallery, and subsequently in Bath with the miniaturist, Samuel Collins. His talent was encouraged by his friends Joshua Reynolds and Thomas Gainsborough – Reynolds initially supported Humphry by allowing him to make miniature copies of his paintings.

Humphry was well taught by Collins and excelled at miniatures which he exhibited at the Society of Artists from 1765 to 1771. King George III became one of his patrons and commissioned portraits of the Queen and Princess Charlotte. Despite a promising future, a riding accident in 1772 badly affected his sight which made the delicate work of miniature painting increasingly difficult.

The accident prompted Humphry to travel to Italy with his artist friend, George Romney, to study oil painting. He visited Florence, Venice and Naples and stayed in Rome for four years before returning to London to resume his career.

Back in England, Humphry’s portraits included George Stubbs, fellow academician Dominic Serres and possibly a picture known as the ‘Rice’ portrait (after a late owner) which some believe to be of a young Jane Austen. The story and controversy surrounding the Rice portrait can be read here: https://thericeportrait.com/ozias-humphry and http://janeaustenportraits.blogspot.com/2016/02/facts-are-stubborn-things-why-brimful.html For those who enjoy ‘Fake or Fortune’ these are well worth reading!

Despite considerable ability and similarities with Romney’s works (paintings by the two artists were often confused), Humphry’s oil portraits were not as successful or well-regarded as his miniatures and, with his career in the doldrums, Humphry was encouraged to take a trip to India in 1785, as the artist Johan Zoffany was doing well there. However, problems with the climate and an acrimonious dispute and unsuccessful legal suit with the acting governor-general over a commission, meant India did not work out well. Within 18 months Humphry was back in England suffering from depression.

His failing sight and continued lack of success in oils resulted in Humphry taking up pastels as his medium – much to the initial disapproval of the critic and  satirist Anthony Pasquin (pseudonym of the failed painter, John Williams) who said: ‘crayon painting … is a facile pursuit, which no eminent genius will practice willingly’.

However, Humphry had again found a medium in which he was talented and was soon appointed by the King to be ‘portrait painter in crayons to His Majesty’. This coincided with him becoming a full member of the Royal Academy in 1791. Even Pasquin revised his opinion noting that Humphry displayed ‘a delicacy that is peculiarly his own’, that his crayons ‘are charming both in taste and colouring; and they certainly are the first in that line of the Arts’, and, in reference to a portrait of Mrs Sheridan: ‘a very strong likeness in crayons …[in which] the light falls so forcibly upon the bosom, as to make it exclusively visible – nay we had almost said, indelicately palpable’! (Unfortunately, I could not locate an image of this work…)

Humphry managed to work in pastels for six years – many of which are copies of works by Reynolds.  However, his sight continued to deteriorate and by 1797 he could no longer paint with any facility. Described as a popular and sociable but quick-tempered person, he kept up a steady correspondence with various friends, prepared a few sketches and made suggestions for pictures but was never able to exhibit again. In his later life, he was supported by his friends, eventually dying in a relatively impoverished state in 1810.

Humphry’s estate was left to his illegitimate son, William Upcott, who was the product of a liaison that Humphry had had with the daughter of an Oxford shopkeeper on his return from Italy in 1779. Upcott inherited his father’s collection of drawings, miniatures, engravings and correspondence with the leading artistic figures of the day. He was the right person for this bequest as he was an antiquary, librarian and autograph collector who treasured his father’s works before they were acquired by the British Museum on his death.

Humphry’s private conversations with George Stubbs in the mid 1790s resulted in a fifty-page manuscript ‘A Memoir of George Stubbs’ which was edited and privately published in the 1870s. It is the only contemporary biography of Stubbs and provides an insight into Stubbs desire to ‘paint from life’. Humphry records Stubbs as saying that Stubbs’ motive for going to Italy was: ‘to convince himself that nature was and is always superior to art whether Greek or Roman, and having renewed this conviction, he immediately resolved upon returning home’. We know from Stubbs ongoing practice that he adhered to this position.

There are two works by Humphry in the collection of the National Gallery of Victoria. The first is an undated sketch of ‘The Two ladies Waldgrave’.

The Waldegrave sisters were the daughters of the 2^nd Earl Waldegrave and his wife, Maria Walpole. Maria commissioned the work by Joshua Reynolds in 1780-81 with the hope of finding appropriate suitors for the girls. The eldest sister, Lady Elizabeth Laura, is seated at centre, winding a card with silk thread from a skein held by her sister Lady Charlotte Maria, at left, while Lady Anna Horatia, the youngest, embroiders netting stretched in a tambour frame. This painting, now in the collection of the National Gallery of Scotland, is considered one of Reynolds’ most iconic works. As befits a Jane Austen novel, all three married well – Elizabeth to her cousin the Earl Waldegave, Charlotte to the Duke of Grafton and Anna to the Admiral Lord Hugh Seymour.

Humphry’s connection with Reynolds doubtless gave him an entrée to the Waldegrave sisters. Another painting of two of the daughters, Charlotte Maria and Anne Horatia as ‘Venus and Juno’ had been attributed to George Romney before a court case in 1917 established the painting as clearly by Humphry.

The second work by Humphry in the NGV collection is a miniature of ‘Mary, daughter of John Wilkes M.P’ painted in 1790 and would have been one of the last miniatures painted by him. This is a gentle and sensitive depiction of a rather difficult and plain woman.

Mary Wilkes was the darling daughter of the radical politician John Wilkes and his estranged wife Mary Meade. Zoffany painted a portrait of father and daughter in 1779 which Horace Walpole described as a ‘caricature of the Devil acknowledging Miss Sin…’

There are a number of biographies of John Wilkes with titles like: ‘John Wilkes: the Scandalous Father of Civil Liberty’; ‘John Wilkes: The Lives of a Libertine’; and ‘In praise of John Wilkes: how a filthy pandering dead-beat helped secure British – and American – liberty’. But, my friends, John Wilkes is a topic for another day ….

Humphry’s miniatures and pastels can be found in most of the important public collections in England. His art was recognised for its simplicity, refinement, draughtsmanship and harmonious use of colour. Misfortune required Humphry to develop new skills and he rose to this challenge admirably with the support of his friends. It is fitting to retrieve him from ‘footnotes’.