Welcome to Dobsonart, dedicated to the 17th century artist, William Dobson, who was the court painter of King Charles I during the English Civil War.
Although he was only employed in this manner for less than five years, nevertheless Dobson produced over fifty known portraits, primarily of royalist soldiers, leaving us with the only real visual view of many important figures from this turbulent time.
Overshadowed by his predecessor in the role of Court painter, Anthony Van Dyck, and considered by many to be an inferior, minor painter to others of his century, such as Lely and Walker, Dobson's role in documenting the faces of King Charles' army has been long overlooked. Little is known about his life, and few books have offered any significant biography or list of his works. Most of the information I have gathered comes from the research and exhibition catalogue of Malcolm Rogers, who showed many of Dobson's works at the National Portrait Gallery, London, during an exhibition in the early 1980s.
This site is not intended to be biographical, although I will give a brief overview of what is known about William Dobson. The main purpose of Dobsonart is to give information on his works; a list of all the paintings I have found records or images of, and where they are now. My own research has been frustratingly slow, due to there being no collected record or list (that I can find) of Dobson's art. So for anyone interested in studying this largely forgotten yet very important artist, I would like to share what I have discovered in the past two years of my research.
Where possible, I have given the names of institutions that currently own Dobson portraits, but there are many for which the current location is unsure. If anyone has information that will help me identify the present owners, or if I reproduce an image for which I require further permission, please contact me.
