Hoghton Tower by Arthur Devis (1712 – 1787)
Arthur Devis was born in Preston and became a pupil of Pieter Tillemans, who was a well known painter of sporting scenes. By 1745, Devis was enjoying a successful practice as a portrait painter of small scale works, probably both in Lancashire and London. He exhibited at the Free Society of Artists from 1761 to 1775 and in 1780, and became its President. In later years he began to paint on glass. He died in Brighton in July 1787. Arthur Devis had a half-brother, Anthony, and two sons, Arthur William and Thomas Anthony, all of whom became artists.
Whilst I have chosen this landscape, because of its striking 18th century view of Hoghton Tower with a somewhat ‘naked’ hill, the place of Arthur Devis in art history is generally as painter of the type of portrait now called a conversation piece. After moving to London and apprenticeship to a Flemish topographical artist there, he switched to portraiture and acquired a considerable reputation. Unfortunately, this success did not last. Devis was unable to adapt to later fashionable artistic currents, and subsequently his commissions declined. His work was largely forgotten after his death, until the 20th century revival of interest in the conversation piece.
Arthur Devis was the eldest son of Anthony Devis, a carpenter and bookseller who eventually became a freeman of the town and a member of the town council. It is possible that his father was responsible for introducing Arthur to the Flemish painter Peter Tillemans, who became his teacher. During the early 1730s, Devis is known to have been an assistant in Tillemans’s London studio. He worked copying views of Italy by artists such as Pannini and Marco Ricci. The first work Devis painted on commission was a depiction of a house within its park, which shows his interest in landscape. The same can be said for the “Hoghton Tower from Duxon Hill, Lancashire” painting. Howver, by 1737, he had become a portrait painter. In 1745 he established a studio in Great Queen Street, Lincoln’s Inn Fields, the location of an academy of painting that opened in 1711. By this time he had acquired a considerable artistic reputation.
Devis married Elizabeth Faulkner (1719-1788) in 1742. They had twenty-two children, but sadly only six of them survived past infancy.
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Further reading and sources of information
Arthur Devis article from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(I generally avoid citing this source, but on this occasion it seems to be legitimate)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Devis
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Arthur Devis (1712–1787) British, English, painter
Art UK (the Public Catalogue Foundation)
https://artuk.org/discover/artists/devis-arthur-17121787
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Arthur Devis – Lane Fine Art Ltd
https://lanefineart.com/artists/77-arthur-devis
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DEVIS, Arthur (b. 1712, Preston, d. 1787, Brighton)
Web Gallery of Art, created by Emil Krén and Daniel Marx
https://www.wga.hu/frames-e.html?/bio/d/devis/arthur/biograph.html
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Arthur Devis, Lancashire-born artist
Discover this artist – Google Arts & Culture
https://artsandculture.google.com/entity/arthur-devis/m03nsj9s?hl=en
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Arthur Devis – Portrait painter born 1712 in Preston The British Museum
https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/term/BIOG25168
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DEVIS Family of Artists (1711-1827)
Material is held at Courtauld Institute of Art
https://archiveshub.jisc.ac.uk/search/archives/feae9473-2a6b-3748-8b2d-28185bfd035a
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BIOGRAPHY OF ARTHUR DEVIS 1712-1787
All About History by Christopher Smith
https://www.allabouthistory.co.uk/History/England/Person/Arthur-Devis-1712-1787.html?vvNq5EXs
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The Clavey family by Arthur Devis
ART JOURNAL – Joseph Burke, 2nd July 2014
https://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/essay/the-clavey-family-by-arthur-devis
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A conversation with Arthur Devis
Posted on 11th March 2017 by The Garden History Blog