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John Opie is considered to be the first Cornish artist of any significance and certainly the first Cornish portraitist of renown. He was the son of a St Agnes carpenter whose portrait he painted when aged only eleven. On leaving school, he was apprenticed first to his father and then to the local saw-pit. While he was there, he was discovered by Dr Wolcott, a Truro physician who was also a satirical poet writing under the name of Peter Pindar and an amateur artist who had been a pupil under Richard Wilson. Dr Wolcott bought him out of his apprenticeship and with the doctor he began a career as a travelling portrait-painter. At 14 he painted his first recorded self portrait. In 1781, Opie and the doctor moved to London where they attracted sitters from the lower end of society, whose sole reason for wishing a portrait done by Opie was for its novelty.
Royal Cornwall Museum
Truro
Title
Captain James of Marazion
Medium
oil on canvas
Measurements
H 75 x W 63 cm
Accession number
TRURI : 1925.186
Acquisition method
gift, 1925
Work type
Painting
Royal Cornwall Museum
River Street, Truro, Cornwall TR1 2SJ England
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