Project Editor: Kimberly Golden, UCARE, 2007

Benjamin Robert Haydon

Benjamin Robert Haydon (January 26, 1786 - June 22, 1846) was an English historical painter and writer. A native of Plymouth, England, Haydon went to study at the Royal Academy in 1804. Over his lifetime, he enjoyed critical success with his artwork, especially in America when his cousin John Haviland of Philadelphia formed the American Gallery of Painting. His mission was to paint historical and religious subjects in the manner of the Grand Masters and to display them in order to educate the public and is associated with the British Romantic movement. However, his tumultuous life was of far more interest to the public than his paintings, and some suggest his autobiography is more intriguing than his artwork. Despite his popularity, he continuously struggled financially and went to jail for his offenses multiple times. He eventually committed suicide in 1846 and left behind debt, a widow and three children.

Haydon could possibly have been considered an appropriate namesake to the founding members because of the following notions:

• His well-known feud with the Royal Academy when they did not display his paintings the way he desired that sought him to promote an anti-institution system of control of art. This ideology is linked to the values of democracy and could have been easily inspirational for the founding members to see art's purpose as for the people.


• Haydon considered himself the modern martyr for high art.


• His artwork was one of the first purchased in the American Gallery of Painting, one of the newest art institutions at the time and establishing his connection to America's bustling art scene.


• Haydon desired to look to the Grand Masters for inspiration and sought to bring art back to the standards of the past with a presence that would connect with the modern public.