Robinson, Hon. Thomas
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- Robinson, Hon. Thomas
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(1738 - 86) of Newby Park, Yorks, e. s. of 1st B. Grantham; educ. Westminster and Christ's Camb. 1755; MP 1761 - 70; Dilettanti and FSA 1763; suc. fa. 1770 as 2nd B.; amb. Madrid 1771 - 9; m. 1780 Ldy. Mary Yorke, dau. of 2nd E. of Hardwicke.
1759 - 61 Turin (Aug. - 12 Nov. 1759), Genoa, Milan (by 1 Dec. 1759), Florence, Naples (by 1 Jan. 1760 - ), Rome (by mid-Feb. - Aug.), Parma, Florence (Sep.), Genoa, Venice (by 4 Nov. 1760 - ?Apr. 1761) [England Jan. 1762]
A 'glorious young fellow indeed and most amiable' (according to Horace Mann), Thomas Robinson spent some eighteen months in Italy, during which he took the opportunity to assess the leading portrait painters of the time. He was in Turin, apparently at the Academy, by August 1759, sharing lessons with his 'old acquaintance' John Mytton, and about to be joined by Thomas Wynn (see Baron Newborough) and James Grant of Castle Grant (18 Aug.).1 He left Turin on 12 November, accompanying Grant and Mytton to Milan, Florence, Rome and Naples (see Grant). In Rome, before May 1760 when Grant left, Robinson sat to Nathaniel Dance, with Grant, Mytton and Wynn, for a conversation piece (YCBA and Philadelphia MA). Robinson and Mytton stayed on in Rome after Grant's departure,2 and in July Robinson became the friend and guide of Benjamin West (who had arrived from America on 10 July). Robinson sat to him for an oil sketch (untraced) which West wanted to show Mengs as a sample of his capabilities; the sketch was hung in Daniel Crespin's house in Rome, where it was mistaken by Thomas Jenkins for a Mengs,3 an error facilitated by the fact that Robinson was also sitting to Mengs (though the portrait, now in Newby Hall, was not sent to England until September 1777).4
Robinson wrote to his father (9 Aug. 1760) explaining the differences between Mengs and Batoni, having seen a Hector and Andromache and a portrait of Pope Clement XIII by both artists.5 'Mr Minx is a German & can by no means degrade himself to ye Common Manner of thinking of ye Romans, whereas Battoni who is their Countryman obtains by that means a Preference ... He is besides of a very devout Exterior & Appearance'; in their portraits Batoni 'made one take Notice how well the Gold Lace was finished, how transparent the Linnen was, & complained of getting thro' so elaborate a performance. The likeness was indeed very perfect. Menx on the other hand ... dwelt on the Effect of his Whole Picture, on the Composition of it, its Force, & its Dignity, none of which things the Other with all his Accuracy had ever thought of'; as for the Hector and Andromache, 'Menx has drawn Hector, Andromache & Astyanax within the walls of Troy, while Battoni's is il Signore Ettore, la Signora Andromache & il fanciullo Astyanax on the Theatre in Haymarket'. Mengs also made for Robinson a design for a cameo (Oedipus at Colonus) which was executed by Pichler in 1788 (after Robinson's death),6 and Jenkins mentioned two ivory heads by Pozzi in Robinson's collection.7
In September 1760 Robinson was in Florence8 and his genial figure appears in Patch's Punch Party of 1760 (Dunham Massey). By 4 November 1760 he was in Venice where, of all the people he met, Lady Mary Wortley Montagu made the deepest impression, 'very old, very healthy, chearfull & clever, but scurrilous to the highest degree' (20 Nov.). Mytton was probably still in Venice in April 1761 and Robinson may have been with him. He was back in England by January 1762,9 and was to provide his fellow Yorkshireman William Weddell with an introduction to Jenkins three years later.
1. Robinson letters MSS; dates given in brackets. 2. Seafield MSS, GD 248/99/3 (Abb? Grant, 5 Jul. 1760). 3. See Erffa/Staley, 548 (and see no.730). 4. Pelham letters MSS, f.311 (13 Sep. 1777). 5. See G. Beard, Leeds Arts Calendar, 44 [1960]:23 - 4. Clark/Bowron 222, 227. 6. Mengs 1993, no.39. 7. Leeds Arts Calendar, 45[1961]:46 - 7. 8. Wal. Corr., 21:436. 9. Ibid., 461.