{{Short description|Scottish painter}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} [[File:A Conversation of Virtuosis...at the Kings Arms by Gawen Hamilton.jpg|thumb|''A Company of Artists'' (1735). National Portrait Gallery, London]] '''Gawen Hamilton''' (1698 – 1737),{{sfn|Saunders|1995|loc=p. 44, n. 38}} easily confused with the later, more prominent artist Gavin Hamilton, was a Scottish painter working in London, a member of the Rose and Crown Club. He was one of the first wave of British born painters of 'conversation pieces' along with contemporaries such as William Hogarth and Charles Philips. These are works that depict groups of friends, families and acquaintances often engaging in a variety of genteel activities such as playing cards or taking tea. Some of Hamilton's pieces depict gatherings of artists and craftsmen such as the Rose and Crown Club itself.
Much of what is known of Hamilton is derived from the notebooks of George Vertue, who knew him well and was a fellow member, both of the convivial group that met at the Rose and Crown as well as the ''Club of Artists'' depicted by Hamilton in 1735, that met at the King's Arms in New Bond Street. The portrait of this club was commissioned by a subscription of its members, to aid Hamilton.<ref>Whitley, William T., ''Artists and Their Friends in England 1700-1799'' (Medici Society, London) 1928, vol. I pp 68-71</ref> The portrait itself was won by Joseph Goupy in a raffle in April 1735.<ref>Harris, Ellen. T; in Vickers, David (ed.) ''Handel'', p.51</ref> Hamilton and Goupy, as well as other sitters in the portrait such as John Wootton, were part of a wider artistic social group including George Frideric Handel. Handel's trumpeter John Baptist Grano mentions Hamilton several times in his diary.<ref>Grano, John Baptist; ''Handel's Trumpeter: The Diary of John Baptist Grano''</ref> Vertue described Hamilton as the superior of Hogarth ‘in Colouring and easy gracefull likeness’ - a possibly prejudiced view given their association. He also described Hamilton as one of ‘the most elevated Men in Art here now, [who] are the lowest of stature.<ref>Tate Gallery; ''Gawen Hamilton'', Retrieved 20 Jan 2020</ref>
Vertue notes that he was born at Hamilton, near Glasgow, was trained by a little-known artist named Wilson, and excelled at groups with numerous small figures, which Vertue compares with William Hogarth, mentioning a group portrait of ''John Wootton and His Family'' and a portrait of the ''Earl and Countess of Strafford and Their Family''.
Horace Walpole, who used Vertue's notes, makes no mention of Gawen Hamilton in his ''Anecdotes of Painting in England''.
Hamilton died and was buried at St Paul's, Covent Garden on 28 October 1737.
==Notes== {{commons category|Gawen Hamilton}} {{reflist}}
==Further reading== * {{Cite journal|last=Bignamini|first=Ilaria|date=1988|title=George Vertue, Art Historian and Art Institutions in London, 1689–1768: A Study of Clubs and Academies|journal=The Walpole Society|volume=54|pages=1–148|jstor=41829562}} * {{Cite book|last=Einberg|first=Elizabeth|url=https://archive.org/details/mannersmoralshog0000einb|title=Manners & Morals: Hogarth and British Painting 1700-1760|publisher=Tate Gallery|year=1987|isbn=0-946590-84-2|location=London|at=pp. [https://archive.org/details/mannersmoralshog0000einb/page/14/mode/1up 14], [https://archive.org/details/mannersmoralshog0000einb/page/75/mode/1up 75], [https://archive.org/details/mannersmoralshog0000einb/page/80/mode/2up 80]–[https://archive.org/details/mannersmoralshog0000einb/page/86/mode/1up 86], [https://archive.org/details/mannersmoralshog0000einb/page/165/mode/1up 165], [https://archive.org/details/mannersmoralshog0000einb/page/242/mode/1up 242]; cat. nos. 62–65|type=exhibition catalogue|oclc=1150291569|url-access=registration|via=the Internet Archive}} * {{Cite encyclopedia|last=Egerton|first=Judy|title=Hamilton, Gawen|date=2004|encyclopedia=Oxford Dictionary of National Biography|editor-last=Matthew|editor-first=H. C. G.|editor-last2=Harrison|name-list-style=amp|editor-first2=Brian|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=Oxford, New York|pages=801–802|url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_0198613741/page/801/mode/1up|via=the Internet Archive|volume=24|isbn=0-19-861374-1|oclc=1035760018}} * {{cite encyclopedia|author=H. F. F.|date=1922|editor-last=Thieme|editor-first=Ulrich|editor-link=Ulrich Thieme|editor-last2=Willis|editor-first2=Fred C.|url=https://archive.org/details/allgemeineslexik15thie/page/553/mode/1up|title=Hamilton, Gawen|encyclopedia=Allgemeines Lexikon der bildenden Kunstler|volume=15|language=de|location=Leipzig|publisher=E. A. Seemann|pages=553–554|oclc=1039494975|via=the Internet Archive}} * {{cite book|first=Richard H.|last=Saunders|date=1995|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Wklq3JItYOgC|title=John Smibert: Colonial America's First Portrait Painter|location=New Haven, London|publisher=Yale University Press|page=45|isbn=0-300-04258-2|oclc=31607421}} * {{Cite book|last=Sitwell|first=Sacheverell|author-link=Sacheverell Sitwell|url=https://archive.org/details/conversationpiec00sitw/|title=Conversation Pieces|publisher=B. T. Batsford|year=1936|location=London|at=pp. [https://archive.org/details/conversationpiec00sitw/page/n49/mode/2up 18], [https://archive.org/details/conversationpiec00sitw/page/70/mode/2up 70]–[https://archive.org/details/conversationpiec00sitw/page/71/mode/1up 71], [https://archive.org/details/conversationpiec00sitw/page/73/mode/1up 73]; pl. 74, 75, 82|oclc=1028563978|url-access=registration|via=the Internet Archive}} * {{cite journal|last=Vertue|first=George|author-link=George Vertue|date=1934|title=The Note-Books of George Vertue Relating to Artists and Collections in England (III)|journal=The Walpole Society|volume=22|at=whole issue|jstor=i40086509}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Hamilton, Gawen}} Category:18th-century Scottish painters Category:18th-century Scottish male artists Category:Scottish male painters Category:1698 births Category:1737 deaths
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