Giles Hussey (1710–1788)

• Was a British painter.
• Born at Marnhull in Dorset.
• His parents sent him to receive a Catholic education in Douay and St Omer in France.
• On his return he was apprenticed to Jonathan Richardson to learn the art of portraiture.
• He then went on to work with Francesco Riari and he assisted in painting bishops in Lincoln Cathedral under the Venetian artist Vincenzo Damini.
• He was journeying through France in 1730, ended up in Bologna.
• Hussey was lucky to be adopted by a former ambassador to London, Signor Ghislonzoni, who befriended the painter, who was in Bolgna until 1733, when he left for his original destination of Rome.
• In Rome he started to develop his own theories on art whilst working with Ercole Lelli.

• Hussey went back to England in 1737 to reveal his new theories on art, but they received little attention.

• Hussey created a third set of drawings of "Bonnie Prince Charlie" in 1742 although he is thought to have based this on a bust of the prince.

• Over the next twenty years, Hussey was disappointed to find that his artistic theories received very little attention, and in 1768 he gave up painting entirely.

  • At the end, Hussey's paintings and drawings commanded high prices.

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