Gavin Hamilton. Gavin Hamilton was a Scots neoclassical history painter,who is more widely remembered for his hunts for antiquities in the neighbourhood of Rome.
These roles in combination made him an arbiter of neoclassical taste. Gavin Hamilton was born in Lanark in 1723, into the prominent family for whom the town of Hamilton, South Lanarkshire was named, the Hamiltons of Murdiston, linked to the Dukes of Hamilton.
By 1744 he was in Italy, and probably studied in Rome in the studio of Agostino Masucci. From 1748 to 1750 he shared an apartment with James Stuart, Matthew Brettingham and Nicholas Revett, and with them visited Naples and Venice.
On returning to Britain, he spent several years portrait-painting in London. At the end of that period, he returned to Rome.
He lived there for more than the next four decades, until his death in 1798. Aside from a few portraits of friends, the Hamilton family, and British people on the Grand Tour, most of his paintings, many of which are very large, were of classical Greek and Roman subjects. His most famous is a cycle of six paintings from Homer's Iliad. As engraved by Domenico Cunego and reproduced, these were widely disseminated widely and were enormously influential. Also influential was Hamilton's Death of Lucretia, also known as the Oath of Brutus. This inspired a series of oath paintings by European painters, which included Jacques-Louis David's
These roles in combination made him an arbiter of neoclassical taste. Gavin Hamilton was born in Lanark in 1723, into the prominent family for whom the town of Hamilton, South Lanarkshire was named, the Hamiltons of Murdiston, linked to the Dukes of Hamilton.
By 1744 he was in Italy, and probably studied in Rome in the studio of Agostino Masucci. From 1748 to 1750 he shared an apartment with James Stuart, Matthew Brettingham and Nicholas Revett, and with them visited Naples and Venice.
On returning to Britain, he spent several years portrait-painting in London. At the end of that period, he returned to Rome.
He lived there for more than the next four decades, until his death in 1798. Aside from a few portraits of friends, the Hamilton family, and British people on the Grand Tour, most of his paintings, many of which are very large, were of classical Greek and Roman subjects. His most famous is a cycle of six paintings from Homer's Iliad. As engraved by Domenico Cunego and reproduced, these were widely disseminated widely and were enormously influential. Also influential was Hamilton's Death of Lucretia, also known as the Oath of Brutus. This inspired a series of oath paintings by European painters, which included Jacques-Louis David's
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