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Denis Dighton
1792–1827
English painter, born in London. Dighton’s father Robert trained as a portrait painter but found fame as a caricaturist. Following his father’s example, the young Dighton attended the Royal Academy schools. Although he drew some caricatures during his student years, he soon became exclusively a painter of land and sea battles, one example of which is his deck scene showing the fall of Nelson at the Battle of Trafalgar, in the National Maritime Museum, London. At the age of 19, he received an officer’s commission in the army, through the patronage of the Prince of Wales. With his marriage to the still-life painter Phoebe Earl, he resigned his commission and settled in London as a professional artist. He had some success, retaining the prince’s patronage, to whom he was appointed military draughtsman. Between 1811 and 1825, he exhibited 17 works at the Royal Academy. However, with the diminishment of his royal patron’s favour, Dighton became victim to poverty and ill-health. He moved with his family to Saint Servan in Brittany, where they lived, assisted by the Artists’ Benevolent Fund until his early death, aged only 35, on 8 August 1827. His wife continued to work, exhibiting at the Royal Academy between 1824 and 1835, and was later appointed Fruit and Flower Painter to Queen Adelaide. |
