Thomas Stothard : the mechanisms of art patronage in England circa 1800

Abstract

Thomas Stothard (1755-1834) was probably the most prolific illustrator of his times, executing designs for everything from landscape, sculpture, and history painting to ceramics, silverwork, and book illustration. The resounding popularity of his art attests to the extent to which his decorative style and sentimental subject matter appealed to a wide range of his contemporaries. The general spread of his fame and the rise of his prices must be measured against this background. His sentimental art is a challenge to the accepted notion that political artists produce only" tough" art. An account of Stothard's life, in particular of the special nature of his relation to his employers, reveals the increasingly complex role of the artist in an industrial society.