John Philip Davis

Richard Wellesley, 1st Marquess Wellesley, now at the National Portrait Gallery

John Philip "Pope" Davis (1784-1862), a portrait and subject painter, first exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1811. In 1824 he went to Rome, and painted 'The Talbot Family receiving the Papal Benediction:' whence his cognomen of 'Pope Davis.' He next year received a prize of £50 from the British Institution. With his friend Haydon, he was a great opponent of the Academy, where he did not exhibit after 1843. He died in 1862, and after his death was published his 'Thoughts on Great Painters.' His best-known work is 'The Love-Letter,' exhibited at the British Institution in 1826.

References

This article incorporates text from the article "DAVIS, J. P." in Bryan's Dictionary of Painters and Engravers by Michael Bryan, edited by Robert Edmund Graves and Sir Walter Armstrong, an 1886–1889 publication now in the public domain.

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