Phillips, Thomas

Phillips was born in the town of Dudley, located in Worcestershire. Having mastered the glass painting in Birmingham under the direction of Francis Eginton, he visited London in 1790 at the invitation of Benjamin West, who ordered him to paint the glass windows of the St. George Chapel in Windsor. In 1791 he became a student at the Royal Academy , where in 1792 he was exposed to the view of Windsor Castle, the next two years were followed by “Death of Talbot, Earl of Shrewsbury, at the Battle of Castiglione,” “Ruth and Naomi”, “Elijah Resurrecting the Widow’s Son” , "Cupid Disarmed by Euphrosyne" and other paintings.

After 1796 he focused on portraiture. However, due to very close competition with artists such as John Hoppner, William Owen, Thomas Lawrence and Martin Archer Shea from 1796 to 1800, he mainly exhibited portraits of men and women, often in a catalog of unknown and not of great historical importance.

In 1804, he was elected a member of the Society of the Royal Academy of Arts, along with his rival, William Owen. At about the same time, he moved to George Street, 8, in Hannover Square in London, the former residence of Henry Tresham, where he lived until the end of his life. He became a royal academic in 1808 and presented his thesis “Venus and Adonis” (exhibited in the same year), possibly the best in his work, in addition to the work “Exile from Paradise”. Meanwhile, the artist won public recognition and in 1806 painted portraits of the Prince of Wales, the Marquis Stafford, the Family of the Marquis Stafford and Lord Thurlow. In 1807, he sent to the Royal Academy a famous portrait of the poet and artist William Blake , now in the National Portrait Gallery of London, which was engraved by Luigi Sciavonetti and later etched by William Bell Scott.

In the exhibition of the Academy of 1809 portraits of his work were exhibited - Sir Joseph Banks (engraved by Niccolò Schiavonetti), in the exhibition of 1814 - two portraits of Lord Byron (engraved by Robert Graves). In 1818, he exhibited a portrait of Sir Francis Chantrey, and in 1819 a portrait of the poet George Crabb. In 1825, he was elected professor of painting at the Royal Academy, succeeding Henry Füsli and visited Italy and Rome with William Hilton, as well as Sir David Wilkie, whom they met in Florence to improve their skills. He left the professorship in 1832, and in 1833 published his "Lectures on the history and principles of painting."

Phillips also painted portraits of Walter Scott, Robert Southey, George Anthony Easy Keck (17 of the screenpiece of the subject of Tehman Campbell (poet), Taylor Coleridge Samuel, Henry of Gallum, Mary Sommerville, Sir Edward Parry, Sir John Franklin, Dear Sir John Sommerville, Sir Edward Parry, Sir John Franklin, Dether, Sher Edward Parry, Sir John Franklin, Dether Clapperton In addition, he painted two portraits of Sir David Wilkie, Duke of York (for the city hall, Liverpool), Dean William Buckland, Sir Humphry Davy, Samuel Rogers, Michael Faraday (engraved in mezzo-tinto cousins ​​Henry), Tomas Dalton. The portrait of Napoleon I was written in Paris in 1802, but not from the actual meeting, but with the consent of Empress Josephine, who gave him the opportunity to observe the first consul at the dinner. Years later, in Paris, he portrayed his youngest colleague, Ari Schaeffer (c. 1835, Museum of Romantics, Paris).

The self-portrait, exhibited in 1844, was one of his last works.

Phillips wrote many random essays on fine art specifically for the “Encyclopedia” of Abraham Reese, as well as for the memoirs of William Hogarth John Nichols, 1808-17. He was a member of the Royal Society and the Society of Antiquaries. He was also with Chantray, Turner, Robertson and others, was one of the founders of the “General Charitable Institute of Artists”.

Phillips died on George Street, 8, on Hanover Square in London on April 20, 1845 and was buried in the crypt of the wooden chapel of St. John. He was married to Elizabeth Fraser Fairfield, near Inverness. They had two daughters and two sons, the eldest of whom, Joseph Scott Phillips, became a major artillery in Bengal, and died at Wimbledon, Surrey, on December 18, 1884 at the age of 72. His youngest son, Henry Windham Phillips (1820–1868), was a portrait painter, secretary of the “General Charitable Institute of Artists” and captain of the volunteer artists' corps.

The artist and illustrator John William Wright (1802-1848) was his student.