HAYDON, BENJAMIN ROBERT, wee born January 25th 1786 at Plymouth, where his father was a bookseller. Hayden was educated first at the Plymouth grammar-school and afterwards at the Plympton grammar-school, where SirJoshua Reynolds had received his education. Ilaydon'a father drew a little himself, arid had a taste for art, and was delighted with his son's skill In drawing; but he wished him, as there was no other son, to adopt his business, and Benjamin was accordingly apprenticed. But tho youth hated the business, and expressed his resolution to become a painter so determinedly, that after much oppo sition his father consented, and in May 1804 ho started for London. Through Prince /leer; a friend of the family, ho got introductious to Northcote aud Opie, and afterwards to Fuseli, keeper of the Royal Academy, by whom be was readily admitted as a student at the Royal Academy; and thus at the age of eighteen, an enthusiast for Raffaelle, Michel Angelo, and high art, Benjamin Hayden commenced his career, lore ha drew with great earnestness, and soon aoquired great mill less of hand. Ile also spent much time in dissecting end the study of anatomy generally, of which he obtained • very fair amount of know edge. But his studies were too desultory and interrupted, and there an be little doubt that the weakness of his sight—he had while a routh been for a short time quite blind—was • groat hindrance to successful study in both form and colour. At the academy, Wilkie, Jackson, and others subsequently famous, -were his fellow-pupils, yet he seems to have been generally regarded as one of the most pro nixing students lu the institution, while he was a great favourite with his oompanions there.
Hayden exhibited his first picture at the Royal Academy in 1807. The title alone will show the daring of the young painter, ' Joseph and Mary resting with our Saviour after a day's journey on the road to Egypt.' Mr. 11ope, author or Anititasius; became the purchaser of this picture. The reputation which the artist gained by it gave him increased energy and ambition. Dentstus' was the subject chosen by Lim next year ; and from this period Haydon dates the commencement of a quarrel with the Royal Academy, whom lie 'moused of illiberality or mismanagement in hanging his Dentatua where it could not be seen, and of a fear of historical painting as the cause of their refusal to admit him as au associate, while they admitted less skilful artists. The Dentatus' was purchased by Lord Mulgrave, and in the following year was exhibited in the British Institution, where it received the praises of the public, and the prize of the com mittee. About this time the Elgiu Marbles were first exhibited in London, and Haydou'a enthusiasm about them was boundless. For a time he did scarce anything but draw, write, and talk about them ; and to tho last he was glad to believe that to his earnest pleas with men in power the purchase of them for the nation was partly due.
Hayden now got diverted from steady application to painting by his fondness for controversy; and the attacks he published on the Royal Academy, by estranging from him some personal friends among artists aud the patrons of art, greatly exasperated his temper, and there can be little doubt produced a lasting ill effect on his fortunes. From this
time his life was to a great extent one of strife, and of constant struggle with pecuniary difficulties. Still he was at no time without friends. Sir G. Beaumont gave him a commission for a subject from Macbeth, and his ' Judgment of Solumon' was bought by Mr. Elford and Mr. Tingcomb for 700 guineas; his 'Alexander returning in triumph, after vanquishing Bucephalus,' found a purchaser at 500 guineas in the Earl of Egremont; and his Venus and Anchises' was purchased for 200 guineas by Lord do Tabley. Another application for admission to the Academy resulted again in disappointment His next great work was 'Christ's Entry into Jerusalem,' begun in 1814, but not exhibited until 1820, when it formed part of an exhibition of his own in Bond Street. The picture did not sell, but this did not prevent him from painting 'Christ in the Garden,' and 'Christ Rejected.' In May 1821 he married. His 'Raising of Lazarus' was painted in 1823. About 1815 ho began to receive pupils, his first being the Landseers—Edwin, Charles, and Thomas—and his purpose being " to form a school, and to establish a better and more regular system of instruction than even the Academy offered." With many drawbacks he made a good teacher, and some of our best living painters numbered among his pupils, but he was ill fitted to carry on such an institution with the necessary regularity. Ile also became connected with Mr. Elmes in the conduct of the ' Annals of the Fine Arts,' and that publication became a vehicle for constant attacks by him on the Royal Academy, and eulogies (probably by Mr. limes) on Haydon and his pupils. But the school could not so prosper, the writing brought in no money, and his painting, when not neglected, was nob of a kind to find ready patronage. lie got deeper and deeper into debt, and became an inmate of the King's Bench prison. Here he found a subject for a successful picture in the 'Mock Electiou,' which took place within those walls in July 1827. George IV. purchased this work for 500 guineas. Hayden followed up the subject In his 'Chairing the Members,' which was sold for 300 guineas to Mr. Francis of Exeter. He had previously regained his liberty with the aseistauce of friends. Another picture of the same period was his 'Pharaoh dismissing Moses after the Paeeover,' for which he obtained 500 guineas from Mr. Hunter, an East India merchant Ilaydon's next subjects, after making an unsuccessful attempt to obtain employment as a portrait painter, were ' The Great Banquet at Guildhall' at the passing of the Reform Bill, and ' Napoleon musing at St. Helena :' the former was considered a failure, but the other met with great success. ' The Duke ou the Field of Waterloo' fell far short of this, both in merit and public estimation. Again in 1S36 he became a prisoner for debt in the King's Bench, but after a time ho was able to effect a settlement with his creditors. He now engaged with great zeal in lecturing on painting at various literary institutions in London and the provinces, and his lectures were everywhere attended with signal success.