Thomas Sully was a British-born American painter. He was best known for his portrait paintings, much inspired by the artworks of Thomas Lawrence.
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Thomas Sully
Thomas Sully was a British-born American painter. He was best known for his portrait paintings, much inspired by the artworks of Thomas Lawrence.
Thomas Sully was born in Horncastle, England, in June 1783. The painter was born into a family of actors who emigrated with their nine children to Charleston, South Carolina when young Thomas was nine years old. Thomas attended a school in New York City until his mother’s death two years later, when he moved to Richmond to live with his family. From there, the Sullys moved to Charleston, South Carolina, where father and children performed on stage.
Following the steps of his elder brother Lawrence Sully, a miniature painter, Thomas decided to become an artist. His earliest lessons were with Charles Fraser, a young schoolmate of his. He later would be apprenticed to his brother-in-law, Jean Belzons, a French miniaturist, after a brief and unsuccessful attempt to ingress in the insurance broking business. After a violent disagreement with Belzons in 1799, Sully would leave Charleston to join his brother Lawrence in Richmond.
His interest in art only grew, and his early influence was the portraits of Henry Benbridge. In 1804 Thomas Sully established his first studio in Richmond. Two years later, Sully was granted a commission to paint at a theater in New York City, where he made acquaintances with John Wesley Jarvis, John Trumbull, and William Dunlap. Following a brief studying under Gilbert Stuart, who would also encourage Sully’s efforts on portrait painting, the artist went to Philadelphia, where he lived until the end of his life.
In 1837, now in the pinnacle of his career, Thomas Sully was summoned to England to paint a full-length portrait of Queen Victoria, who was recently crowned. The artist’s fame was such he attracted several to-be distinguished artists, such as John Neagle, Charles Robert Leslie, and Jacob Eichholtz, as well as many of his offspring, who also became noteworthy artists. In 1851, the artist created Hints to Young Painters and the Process of Portrait Painting, aimed to guide portrait painters. Said guide was only published in 1873.
Thomas Sully became the foremost American painter of the painterly, fluid, and highly romanticized style of portraiture, much in the form of the British painters Sir Thomas Lawrence and Henry Raeburn.
According to the artist’s records, from 1801 until his death, Sully executed 2,631 paintings. Although he was best known for his portrait paintings, Sully also created several landscapes and historical paintings.
Thomas Sully died in Philadelphia on November 5, 1872.
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