HAYDOH, BENJAMIN ROBERT. 



HAYDON, BENJAMIN ROBERT. 



went to Vienna to engage cither Haydn or Mozart, not only to pro- 

 duo* crrUm compositions in aid of his design, but to superintend in 

 penoa the porformnoe of thorn. It was mutually agreed by the 

 thre partie* that Haydn should be the fint to vi*it London, and that 

 Mozart should follow the yi-ar after ; but it WM destined that the 

 latur cbould not lire to fulfil hi* put in the agreement. In 1791 

 Haydn arrived, and produced during that and the following year, at 



* Salomon'* Conorta,' in the Hanover-square Room*, six of his 

 Twelve Orand Symphonies,' which immediately made an extraor- 

 dinay sensation in the musical world, and have ever since rather 

 iiiuiiatiil than diminiihed in public estimation. Here also he com- 

 poafd, by agreement with Corri and Dussek. music publishers, his two 

 a*U of Engliah canzonet*, which for originality, for musical expression 

 of every kind, and for richnn* and propriety of accompaniment, hare 

 no rivalf. Betides these, hi* prolific imagination gave birth to many 

 quartet*, sonatas, 4c. 



In 1794 Haydn accepted a fecond engogment from Salomon for the 

 same purpose. He reached London in January, and in the course of 

 that and the succeeding season brought forth the remaining six of his 

 Orand Symphonies, with the same brilliant result For these twelve 

 symphonies, and for superintending their performance, he received a 

 sum including two benefit concerts, the profits guaranteed by Salo- 

 monamounting to 155W. To this is to be added, as the fruits of his 

 visit* to England, what he gained by his canzonets and other compo- 

 sition* : it was therefore with reason he declared that in London he 

 discovered the real value of the reputation he enjoyed in Germany. 

 Hi* reception here was of the most flattering kind: the University 

 of Oxford conferred upon him the degree of Doctor in Music ; at the 

 tables of the Prince of Wales and the Duke of York he was a frequent 

 guest; and nearly all classes vied in showing him attention. The 

 satisfaction which he felt he gratefully acknowledged and evinced in a 

 diary he kept while ill England, a translation of a part of which (a 

 curious document), with notes, appears in the fifth volume of the 



llarmonicon.' 



In 1798 Haydn gave to the world his oratorio 'The Creation,' the 

 greatest of his works, though composed in his sixty-fifth year. It is 

 enough to eay of this fine production of his advanced years, that it is 

 not unworthy to rank with the finest oratorios of Handel. The design 

 was suggested, his biographer M. Bcylo tells us, by an English gentle- 

 man named Lidley (Liddell, we suspect, is the true name). The 

 German text however, and the barbarous English translation (which 

 to our shame is still in use), were furnished by the Baron von Swieten. 

 Two years after this he composed ' The Seasons,' a work of little less 

 originality than ' The Creation,' but not exhibiting, nor intended to 

 exhibit, the same depth of thought The subject is not of so grave a 

 nature, and is treated with more freedom. The last offsprings of his 

 genius were two sets of quartets, " which betray no abatement of his 

 vigour ; on the contrary, the second of his Op. 80 is perhaps the most 

 original and exquisitely finished of all the works of the kind that ever 

 proceeded from bis pen." 



When Haydn's ' Creation ' reached Paris the Institut National 

 elected him a member, on honour contested with him by some of the 

 greatest men of the time in Europe ; and honours and marks of the 

 highest respect flowed in upon him during his remaining years from 

 all the leading societies and musical professors of Europe. His death 

 is supposed to have been accelerated by the bombardment of Vienna, 

 which powerfully agitated his weakened frame, though it must be 

 mentioned, to the honour of Napoleon, that ho issued strict orders 

 that the abode of Haydn should be respected ; and when the troops 

 entered the city, a French guard was placed at his door to protect him 

 from every kind of injury. He died on the 29th of May 1809, and was 

 privately buried at Gumpendorff, bis country then suffering all the 

 horrors of war, and the capital of the empire being in possession ol 

 the enemy. He left no children. His works are astonishingly 

 numerous, embracing every class. Among them are 116 symphonies, 

 83 violin quartet*, 60 pianoforte sonatas, 15 masses, 4 oratorios (in- 

 cluding the ' Seven Last Words '), a grand Te Deum, a Stabat Mater, 

 14 Italian and German operas, 42 duets and canzonets, upwards oi 

 200 concertos and divertissements for particular instruments, &c. &c. 

 Many of these, but not the most valuable, were irretrievably lost in 

 the fire which consumed the palace of his patron at Eiseustiidt : the 

 best are out of the reach of danger; they have been printed and 

 reprinted in half the capitals of Europe. 



HAYDON, BENJAMIN ROBERT, was born January 25th 1786 at 

 Plymouth, where his father wa* a bookseller. Haydon was educated 

 fint at the Plymouth grammar-school and afterwards at the Plympton 

 grammar-Mhool, where Sir Jushua Reynolds had received his education 

 Haydon'* father drew a little himself, and had a taste for art, and was 

 delighted with bis son's skill in drawing ; but he wished him, as there 

 was no other son, to adopt hi* business, and Benjamin was accordingly 

 apprenticed. But tho youth hated the buninosR, and expressed his 

 resolution to become a painter so determinedly, that after much oppo- 

 sition hi* father consented, and in May ISO! bo started for London 

 Through I'rinco Hoare, a friend of the family, he got introductions to 

 Nortbcoto and Opie, and afterward* to Fuseli, keeper of the Roya 

 Academy, by whom be was readily admitted at a student at the Roya 

 Academy ; and thus at the age of eighteen, an enthusiast for Kaffaeile, 

 Michrl Angelo, and high art, Benjamin Uaydon commenced his career 



Here he drew with great earnestness, and soon acquired gnat readi- 

 ness of hand. He also spent much time in dissecting and the study of 

 anatomy generally, of which he obtained a very fair amount of know- 

 ledge. But hi* studies were too desultory and interrupted, and there 

 can be little doubt that the weakness of hit sight he had while a 

 youth been for a short time quite blind wa* a great hindrance to 

 luccessful study in both form and colour. At the academy, Wilkie, 

 Jackion, and others subsequently famous, were hi* fellow-pupils, yet 

 le seems to have been generally regarded as one of the most pro- 

 mising student* in the institution, while he was a great favourite with 

 tis companions there. 



Haydon exhibited his first picture at the Royal Academy in 1807. 

 The title alone will show the daring of the young painter, ' Joseph 

 and Mary resting with our Saviour after a day's journey on the road 



Egypt' Mr. Hope, author of ' Anastasius,' became the purchaser 

 of this picture. The reputation which the artist gained by it gave 

 him increased energy and ambition. 'Dentate*' was the subject 

 chosen by him next year ; and from this period Haydon dates the 

 commencement of a quarrel with the Royal Academy, whom he 

 accused of illiberal! ty or mismanagement in hanging his 'Dentatus' 

 where it could not be seen, and of a fear of historical painting as the 

 cause of their refusal to admit him as an associate, while they admitted 

 less skilful artists. The ' Dentatus ' was purchased by Lori Mulgrave, 

 and in the following year was exhibited in the British Institution, 

 where it received the praises of the public, and the prize of the com- 

 mittee. About this time the Elgin Marbles were first, exhil'i- 

 London, and Haydon's enthusiasm about them was boundless. For a 

 time he did scarce anything but draw, write, and talk about them ; 

 and to the last he was glad to believe that to hi* earnest pleas with 

 men in power the purchase of them for the nation was partly due. 



Uaydon now got diverted from steady application to painting by his 

 fondness for controversy ; and the attacks he published on the Royal 

 Academy, by estranging from him some personal friends among artists 

 and the patrons of art, greatly exasperated his temper, and there can 

 be little doubt produced a lasting ill effect on bis fortunes. From this 

 time his life was to a great extent one of strife, and of constant struggle 

 with pecuniary difficulties. Still he waa at no time without friends. 

 Sir G. Beaumont gave him a commission for a subject from Macbeth, 

 and bis 'Judgment of Solomon' was bought by Mr. Elford and Mr. 

 Tingcomb for 700 guineas ; his 'Alexander returning in triumph, after 

 vanquishing Bucephalus,' found a purchaser at 500 guineas in the Earl 

 of Egremont; and his 'Venus and Anchises' was purchased I 

 guineas by Lord de Tabley. Another application for admission to the 

 Academy resulted again in disappointment 



His next great work woe ' Christ's Entry into Jerusalem,' begun in 

 1814, but not exhibited until 1820, when it formed part of an exhibition 

 of his own in Bond Street The picture did not sell, but this did not 

 prevent him from painting 'Christ in the Garden,' and 'Christ 

 Rejected.' In May 1821 he married. His ' Raising of Lazarus ' was 

 pointed in 1823. About 1815 he began to receive pupil, his first 

 being the Londseers Edwin, Charles, and Thomas and his purpose 

 being " to form a school, and to establish a better and more regular 

 system of instruction than even the Academy offered." With many 

 drawbacks he made a good teacher, and some of our best living painters 

 numbered among his pupils, but he was ill fitted to carry on such an 

 institution with the necessary regularity. He also became connected 

 with Mr. Elmes in the conduct of the ' Annals of the Fine Arts,' and 

 that publication became a vehicle for constant attacks by him on the 

 Royal Academy, and eulogies (probably by Mr. lilmes) on Haydon and 

 his pupils. But the school could not so prosper, the writing bi 

 in no money, and his painting, when not neglected, was nob of a kind 

 to find ready patronage. He got deeper and deeper into debt, and 

 became an inmate of the King's Bench prison. Here he found a 

 subject for a successful picture in tho ' Mock Election,' which took 

 place within those walls in July 1827. George IV. purchase i 

 work for 500 guineas. Haydon followed up the subject in hi* ' Chairing 

 the Members,' which was sold for 300 guineas to Mr. Francis of Exeter. 

 He had previously regained his liberty with the assistance of friends. 

 Another picture of the same period was his ' Pharaoh dismissing Moses 

 after the Passover,' for which he obtained 500 guineas from Mr. Hunter, 

 an East India merchant 



Haydon's next subjects, after making an unsuccessful attempt to 

 obtain employment as a portrait painter, were ' The Great Banquet at 

 Guildhall ' at the pausing of the Reform Bill, and ' Napoleon musing 

 at St Helena :' the former was considered a failure, but the other 

 met with great success. ' The Duke on the Field of Waterloo ' fell for 

 short of this, both in merit and public estimation. Again in 1836 he 

 became a prisoner for debt in the King's Bench, but after a time ho 

 waa able to effect a settlement with his creditors. He now engaged 

 with great zeal in lecturing on painting at various literary institutions 

 in London and the provinces, and his lectures were everywhere 

 attended with signal success. 



The determination of the government to decorate the interior of the 

 new houses of parliament with picture* opened a new and grand field 

 before the imagination of Haydon. Ho had petitioned, written, and 

 lectured in favour of so adorning our public buildings, and impressed 

 with a very high notion of his own capacity for executing such works, 

 his sanguine temperament never permitted him for a moment to doubt 



