John Hamilton Mortimer (1740–1779)

• Was a British landscape painter and printmaker.
• Mortimer became President of the Society of Artists in 1774, five years before his death at age 39.
• Mortimer was born on 17 September 1740 at Eastbourne.
• His father, Thomas Mortimer, was a customs officer, a dealer in flour and owner of several mills.
• By 1757, Mortimer was studying in London at the Duke of Richmond's Academy.
• During this time he became a friend of Joseph Wright.
• Mortimer is also known to have had some professional relationship with the artist Samuel Ireland.
• At the St Martin's Lane Academy his fellow students included Thomas Jones and William Pars.
• Mortimer also studied under Cipriani, Robert Edge Pine, and Sir Joshua Reynolds.
• In 1759, Mortimer won a first prize for a study after Michelangelo's Bacchus and a second prize for a life drawing.

• He began to exhibit his works on a regular basis in the early 1760s, becoming an active member of the Society of Artists.

• He became president of the society in 1774. 

• In 1775 he married Jane Hurrel, which affected his artistic productivity. 

• He died of undocumented causes on 4 February 1779.

• Next