Publisher's Synopsis
Excerpt from Bygone Beauties: A Select Series of Ten Portraits of Ladies of Rank and Fashion, From Paintings by John Hoppner, R. A., Engraved by Charles Wilkin
Hoppner's style was founded on an attentive study of Sir Joshua's. He aimed at portraying elegance and high breeding, and his work is conspicuous for the display of a refined taste. Not only did he ignore what was vulgar or unsightly in sitters, but be invested them with the exaggerated eyes, the Cupid's bow mouth, and the lovely lines of the figure, all in accordance with the ideal graces of the period. Hoppner's portraits have little trace of that intellectual expressiveness which forms the particular and inimitable glory of the creations of Sir Joshua. One of Hoppner's biographers says of him that his power of improving what was placed before him, without annihilating resemblance, obtained him a decided preference among the fairer part of fashionable society. In his portraits of children, too, he was fortunate: he was able to realise and reproduce the freshness and innocence associated with childhood, . While his compositions, irrespective of the beauty of the subject, exhibit the happiest effects of graceful and careless ease. Hoppner's men mostly look like puppets, not without grace perhaps, but devoid of intellect and with little bone or muscle. In all cases Hoppner's colouring is delicate, fresh, transparent, and glowing.
Of Hoppner's personality little need be said. He was born in. London, in 1758, and was buried in the cemetery of St. James's Chapel, . Hampstead Road, in 1810. Like his rival, Lawrence, he had an early taste for music, which was subordinated however to a still stronger bias.
About the Publisher
Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com
This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
