John Dempsey’s Portraits
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Fifty Years Porter, Charing Cross, 1824
It is my delight to present John Dempsey’s street portraits from the eighteen-twenties held in the collection of the Tasmanian Museum & Art Gallery. Originally attributed to George Scharf, they were identified as the work of John Dempsey (1802-74) by curator David Hansen who discovered a folio of fifty-one portraits in 1996 in a drawer labelled ‘U’ for unknown.
Dempsey was an itinerant jobbing artist without any formal training who created ‘Likenesses of Public Characters’ in London and the provincial cities of England, as he travelled around in search of commissions for portrait miniatures and silhouettes. No record exists of any exhibitions and in 1845, he was declared bankrupt. Yet his achievement is unique and enduring.
In spite of Dempsey’s unconventional perspective and disproportionate figures, he created portraits full of humanity that evoke the presence of street people and the outcast poor with compassion and vitality. These are portraits of individuals and they are full of life. As an itinerant artist in an age that did not distinguish between street traders and beggars, he dignified his fellow travellers through his portraits. He understood their lives because he shared their precarious existence.
When I first saw these pictures, I was startled by how familiar they appeared to me and I assumed this was because I have spent so much time looking at prints of The Cries of London. But then I realised that I recognised the demeanour and expression of John Dempsey’s portraits because I see them, their crew and their kin, every day as I walk around the streets of London two centuries later.
Sharp, Orange Man, Colchester, 1823
Watercress, Salisbury
Black Charley, Bootmaker, Norwich, 1823
Muffin Man
Mary Croker, Mat Woman, Colchester, 1823
Sam’l Hevens, Old Jew, 1824
Charles M’Gee, Crossing Sweeper, London, c 1824
Old Bishop, Pieman, Harwich
Woolwich, 1824
Match Woman, Woolwich, 1824
Mark Custings (commonly called Blind Peter) and his boy, Norwich, 1823
Copeman, Gardener, Yarmouth
A Bill Poster, 1825
The Doorkeeper, Royal Managerie, Exeter ‘Change, (London) 1824
Images reproduced courtesy of Tasmanian Museum & Art Gallery
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There is excellent research about Black Charley here
https://georgianera.wordpress.com/2020/03/25/portrait-of-black-charley-of-norwich-by-john-dempsey/
Thank you – very interesting. I can’t work out what medium he used, but despite the odd proportions and perspectives, the faces are very well done.
I love these sensitive and detailed portraits. They make you wonder about the personality of the characters whilst evoking traditions and trades of the past. I also love the way colour is used in these portraits. Subtle and understated (and sometimes detailed) settings create space for highlights of colour in the character or a detail of their trade. The oranges literally burst out of the picture in the first picture. These make me very happy!
Marvelous.
Always fascinated by The Regency period.
The portrait of Black Charley is so typical of the time. Lovely.
These faces are surely real portraits of real people! Marvellous!
I entirely agree about the patient expressions on many of these people’s faces – at once quietly hopeful, but trying not to show it too much, and also resigned to perpetial mild disappointment.
As seen in the faces of many Big Issue sellers today.
These are wonderful, I would love to see a book of them.
Yes, the faces are so realistic and the artist captures the essence of his subjects so well.
I can’t help wondering how the collection ended up in Tasmania.
I love this series. Take a second look at the gardener. Oh, those gigantic capable hands. And the way each rose looks like it took hours to render and look so botanically perfect. I so enjoy the way the artist has depicted the feet/shoes of the subjects — making the characters look a bit like they might lift off and sail away. And yet their faces and bodies are so stalwart and sturdy. This is a remarkable series of images, full of fascination and contradiction.
If I passed the doorway to the boot-maker, I would NOT be able to resist a visit inside. The way he has festooned his doorstep is so compelling……a “must” visit. And the gentleman himself looks like a master story teller, impressively garbed in a lovely vest. A festival of details.
Thank you, GA.
These are beautiful. The perspective of the watercress man’s basket is very successful. These portraits convey immediacy and vitality. The artist has a wonderful understanding of patterns. The garden in Yarmouth is very pretty; makes one wonder if this man ever painted china. His pictures of blind men are very affecting.
What else did John Dempsey paint?