Thomas Hudson

Training under Jonathan Richardson is recorded. Joshua Reynolds, Peter Toms and Joseph Wright of Derby are recorded as having studied under Thomas Hudson. The recorded working language is English. The field of work recorded is painting. Subjects and genres recorded for the work are portrait. Places of work recorded in the authority are London. Work by Thomas Hudson is recorded in the collections of Museo del Prado, Art Institute of Chicago, Auckland Art Gallery, Tate and Philadelphia Museum of Art.

• Born — 1701 • Birthplace — Devon, England • Died — 26 January 1779 (aged 77–78) • Place of death — Twickenham, London • Occupation — English portrait painter

Hudson was born in Devon, in 1701. He studied under Jonathan Richardson in London and, against the latter's wishes, married Richardson's daughter at some point before 1725. Hudson was most prolific between 1740 and 1760 and, from 1745 until 1755 was the most successful London portraitist. He had many assistants, and employed the specialist drapery painter Joseph Van Aken. Joshua Reynolds, Joseph Wright and the drapery painter Peter Toms were his students. Hudson visited the Low Countries in 1748 and Italy in 1752. In 1753, he bought a house at Cross Deep, Twickenham, just upstream from Pope's Villa. He retired toward the end of the 1750s. William Hickey described the elderly Hudson, "His figure was rather grotesque, being uncommonly low in stature, with a prodigious belly, and constantly wearing a large white bushy periwig. He was remarkably good tempered, and one of my first-rate favourites, notwithstanding that he often told me I should certainly be hanged." He died at Twickenham in 1779, aged 77 or 78. His extensive private art collection was sold off in three separate sales. Many of Hudson's works may be seen in art galleries throughout the United Kingdom. They include the National Portrait Gallery, the National Maritime Museum, Tate, Barnstaple Guildhall, Foundling Museum and the Bristol City Museum and Art Gallery.

• Illustration — Portrait of Samuel Scott, 1733 • Illustration — James Thomson, 1735 • Illustration — Edward Vernon, 1739 • Illustration — Portrait of George II, 1744 • Illustration — Duchess of Portland, 1744 • Illustration — Portrait of Theodore Jacobsen, 1746 • Illustration — Charles Erskine, 1747 • Illustration — Portrait of Admiral Byng, 1749 • Illustration — Susannah Maria Cibber, 1749 • Illustration — George Frideric Handel, 1749 • Illustration — Portrait of William Shirley, 1750 • Illustration — Frederick, Prince of Wales, 1750 • Illustration — Augusta, Princess of Wales, 1750 • Illustration — Admiral Peter Warren, c. 1751 • Illustration — Charles Yorke, c. 1756 • Illustration — Portrait of George Frideric Handel, 1756 • Illustration — Earl of Egmont, c. 1759 • Illustration — Anne van Keppel, 1742-1748 • Illustration — 18th century portrait of a man