Arthur Devis (1712 – 1787)

• Was a Lancashire-born British artist.
• Half-brother of the painter Anthony Devis, and father of painters Thomas Anthony Devis and Arthur William Devis.
• Arthur was taught by the Flemish painter Peter Tillemans.
• Arthur Devis was born in Preston, Lancashire, the eldest son of Anthony Devis.
• In 1745, he established a studio in Great Queen Street, Lincoln's Inn Fields in London, the location of an academy of painting opened in 1711.
• Devis received his greatest number of commissions for portraits between 1748 and 1758.
• In 1768 he became president of the newly founded Free Society of Artists.
• He was never admitted to membership of the Royal Academy.
• His marriage in 1742 produced twenty-two children, though few survived.
• In 1783 Devis sold all the paintings in his possession and in 1787 died in retirement in Brighton.

• Next