Brompton, Richard
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- Brompton, Richard
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(1734 - 82), painter, studied under Benjamin Wilson in London and Mengs in Rome; exh. SA 1767, 1773 - 4, 1776 - 7, 1780; FS 1768 - 9; RA 1772 as 'Professor, Roman Academy'; Pres. SA 1777; imprisoned for debt, before becoming Court Painter at St Petersburg c.1780.
1757 - 65 Rome (1757 - Dec. 1762), Venice (8 Jan. 1763 - Aug. 1764), Parma (12 Aug.), Bologna (19 Sep.), Rome (by 21 Sep. 1764 - Jan. 1766) [England 1767]
Brompton was said to have painted a portrait of the architect Robert Mylne in Rome in 1757,1 but Hayward did not list him there until 1758,2 when he was living in Mengs's house in the Strada Vittoria, presumably as his pupil, with James Nevay and Colin Morison.3 Nevay and Brompton were still with Mengs in 1759, in which year Brompton helped to administer the estate of Jonathan Skelton who had died in Rome on 19 January.4
In September 1761 arrangements were being made for Brompton to copy from a scaffold Raphael's Galatea in the Farnese Palace, and Horace Mann was then acting in Brompton's interests:5 'I hope he will at All times remember what infinite obligations he is under to you', Lord Northampton told Mann the following year.6 Northampton, who was appointed ambassador extraordinary to Venice 1762 - 3, persuaded Brompton to join him: 'I am very glad to hear him so well spoken off by all people coming from Rome', he told Mann, 'his Paintings are very much admired in London, & I really think his is a very promising genius'.6
Brompton arrived in Venice on 8 January.7 By December the British resident, John Murray, was telling Mann 'I think you now give Brompton very good advice by endeavouring to persuade him to go directly for England - he certainly has made a sufficient Progress in his Business for anything, that he will have to do at Home and he wants a Spur to Business'.8 But Brompton was still in Venice when the Duke of York and his retinue arrived at the end of May 1764 for the Feast of the Ascension. Probably through Murray, Brompton was commissioned to paint a group portrait of the Duke and his party. They were at Padua where, Brompton later recalled, he had been busy 'owing to Mr Murray's desire, that I might not loose the opportunity of painting the D: of York ... but it was not possible to foresee that what Mr Murray intended to be of the utmost servis to me, shou'd be of so very contrary an Effect'. By 1 August 1764, from Venice, Brompton was telling David Garrick of the difficulties he was already experiencing over payment for the original and copies; Garrick lent him £;80 over the ensuing year, but Brompton drew the allowance prematurely and behaved most ungratefully.9 On 31 July 1764 John Morgan saw him in Venice with Lord Ossory and observed that he was 'very intimate at ye Resid'ts'; on 12 August Ossory and Brompton were in Parma,10 and on the 19th in Bologna; Brompton alone was back in Rome on 21 September.(11) On 9 October he told Garrick his copy of Lord Ossory's portrait was finished, 'but at present I am imploi'd upon the Copys of the Duke of Yorks picture, when I have finnish'd, three of them I shall probably come to England to doo the others'.(12) He was probably the 'Gio. Branbuon Inglese Pittore' living on the Via Babuino at Easter 1765, and he was still in Rome in June 1765 when Cardinal Albani found the Duke of York's picture 'tr?s joli et tr?s gracieux'.(13) Hayward noted in 1765 'Mr Brompton and [Nathaniel] Dance leave Rome',14 but Brompton was elected accademico di merito at the Accademia di S. Luca on 17 November 1765, and apparently received his diploma in person on 5 January 1766.15
Brompton talked of returning to Italy in 1768, but no evidence survives of a second visit.16 He exhibited the Duke of York's picture at the SA in 1767; the original is now at Windsor and there are other versions, at Hampton Court and in private collections. In 1775 Father Thorpe wrote that Brompton was well remembered in Rome, but that his 'ambition to live like a gentleman has hurt his mind'.17
1. GM, 81i[1811]:500. 2. Hayward List, 11, 18. 3. AVR SA, S.Lorenzo in Lucina. Mengs 1993, 15. 4. Skelton 1960, 71, 74 - 5. 5. SP 105/313, ff.616, 628 (Gray, 22 Sep., 6 Oct. 1761). 6. SP 105/314 (23 Oct. 1762). 7. SP 105/315, f.8 (Northampton, 9 Jan. 1763). 8. SP 105/315, f.366 (Murray, 3 Dec. 1763). 9. Whitley, 2:255 - 61. Millar, Later Georgian, 13. Garrick Letters, 2:455 - 7. 10. Morgan Jnl. (31 Jul., 12 Aug. 1764). 11. Martin jnl.MSS (19 Aug., 21 Sep. 1764). 12. Millar, Later Georgian, 13. 13. AVR SA, S.Maria del Popolo. SP 105/316, f.135 (Albani, 8 Jun. 1765). 14. Hayward List, 12. 15. ANSL 52, f.84. 16. Whitley, 2:260 (Brompton to Garrick, 13 Jun. 1768). 17. Thorpe letters MSS (11 Nov. 1775).