Figure 1.--illiam Owen is noted for painting British high society. They are of considerable historical value. One of the most important Owen paintings on the internet is not one of his portraits of well known British figures, usully male leaders pictured along. This is the Hudson family. We have no information on the family. We do not know when it was painted, but would guess about 1810. Notice the boy in a red velvet skeleton suit.

William Owen is one of the least recognized English master portraitists, in part because he died in the prime of his career, Even so he left us important portraits of key society figures of his times, including portraits of society figures including William Pitt the Younger and the Prince of Wales (later King George IV). William had solid working-class origins and was aided by relatives when his drawing talent was recognized at an early age. He was born in Ludlow, Shropshire (1769). Owen's father, Jeremiah Owen (1769). is father trained for the church but decided for unknown reasons to pursue his father's profession and inherited the family barber shop. He then enlarged it to include stationery and books. William as a boy liked drawing landscapes. As an older teenager, to get him started on an artistic career, William was apprenticed to the coach painter Charles Catton (1728–98). A coach painter is just what it sounds like, painted heraldic devices and decorative panels of all kinds on coaches. No one of any importance went around in a plain coach. This of course meant members of high society who could afford horse and carriages--including King George III. This was probably arraigned by an uncle who was butler to the scholar and art expert Richard Payne Knight. William on his own time began doing portraits. After copying a Joshua Reynolds portrait, Reynolds one of the great English portraits, was so impressed that he arranged for Owen to enter the Royal Academy Schools (1791). He attracted the attention of society figures who could afford expensive commissions, leading to a very successful career. Most of his work is the portraits of of wealthy male society figures. There are only a few know paintings of children, families of the society figures he painted. After John Hoppner (1758–1810) died. Owen was appointed portrait painter to the Prince of Wales, later George IV (1810). The Prince never arranged a sitting. Owen relied on a number of Hoppner sketches to produce a likeness. Owen was offered a knighthood, but for unknown reasons declined (1813). Shortly after this health began to decline, impairing his productivity. Owen died as a result of the still abominable level of medical practice in the early-19th century (1825).

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Created: 2:30 AM 7/4/2025
Last updated: 2:31 AM 7/4/2025