Gawen Hamilton

Who was Gawen Hamilton?

Gawen Hamilton, easily confused with the later, more prominent Gavin Hamilton, was a Scottish painter working in London, a member of the Rose and Crown Club, who is known for some 'conversation pieces' depicting clubs of artists. The little that is known of Hamilton is derived mostly from the notebooks of George Vertue, who knew him well and was a fellow member, both of the convivial group that met at the Rose and Crown as well as the Club of Artists depicted by Hamilton in 1735, that met at the King's Arms in New Bond Street and commissioned the portrait by subscription, to aid Hamilton.

Vertue notes that he was born at Hamilton, near Glasgow, was trained by a little-known artist named Wilson, and excelled at groups with numerous small figures, which Vertue compares with William Hogarth, mentioning a group portrait of John Wootton and His Family and a portrait of the Earl and Countess of Strafford and Their Family.

Horace Walpole, who used Vertue's notes, makes no mention of Gawen Hamilton in his Anecdotes of Painting in England.