Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 27.djvu/348

 built or altered by him were Slane Castle and Gosford Castle in Ireland; Penrhyn Castle, Margam, and Kinmel in Wales; Dunmow Lodge, Danbury Place, Wyvenhoe Place, and others in Essex; Leigh Court, near Bristol; Rood Ashton in Wiltshire, and many others. A design for the alteration of Dunkeld Palace was not carried out. Hopper built the Essex county gaol at Springfield, and was surveyor of the county for forty years. In London he built Arthur's Club in St. James's Street, the Atlas Fire Office in Cheapside, St. Mary's Hospital, Paddington (as honorary architect), &c. In 1820 he competed unsuccessfully for the erection of the General Post Office, and afterwards for the rebuilding of the Royal Exchange and the Houses of Parliament. He published his designs for both the latter competitions, and asserted that some features of his design for the Royal Exchange had been appropriated by Sir Robert Smirke. Hopper declined an offer of knighthood from George IV. He died at Bayswater Hill 11 Aug. 1856, in his eightieth year. 

HOPPNER, JOHN (1758–1810), portrait-painter, the son of German parents, was born in Whitechapel, London, on 4 April 1758. At an early age he was a chorister in the royal chapel, and George III made him a small allowance to enable him to commence his studies as a painter. His mother is said to have been one of the German attendants (some accounts say lady in waiting) at the palace, and the interest which George III took in the boy favoured the suspicion that it was fatherly. As George III had not completed his twentieth year when Hoppner was born, and did not occupy the palace till he ascended the throne two years afterwards, the scandal would not be worth mentioning but for the statement that Hoppner encouraged it, and the fact that it does not appear to be quite dead yet (see Notes and Queries, 4th ser. vol. xi. 21 June 1873). In 1775 he was admitted a student at the Royal Academy, in 1778 he gained a silver medal for drawing from the life, and in 1782 the gold medal for an original painting of a scene from King Lear. In 1780 he began to exhibit at the Royal Academy. His address in the catalogues of the exhibition for this and the following year is ‘at Mr. Chamberlaine's, North Audley Street;’ but in 1782 it is ‘at Mrs. Wright's, Cockspur Street, Haymarket.’ In this year he married the youngest daughter of this Mrs. Wright (Mrs. Patience Wright, 1725–1786 [q. v.]), an American lady celebrated for her portraits modelled in wax, for her social qualities, and her patriotic ardour. At her house Hoppner probably associated with many eminent men of the day, as it was frequented by Garrick, Foote, Dr. Dodd, Sir Benjamin (then Mr.) West, Benjamin Franklin, &c. In 1784 he was settled at 18 Charles Street, St. James's Square, close to Carlton House, where he remained till his death. In 1785 he exhibited portraits of the youngest three princesses, Sophia, Amelia, and Mary, and in 1786 one of ‘Mrs. Jordan in the character of the Comic Muse, supported by Euphrosyne, who represses the advances of a Satyr.’ The latter picture was also probably a royal commission, as it is now at Hampton Court. In 1789 he was appointed portrait-painter to the Prince of Wales. In 1792 he was elected an associate, and in 1795 a full academician. Sir Joshua Reynolds was now dead, and Romney declining. Hoppner's only rival was Sir Thomas Lawrence, who, though his junior by seven years, had been elected an academician, and appointed portrait-painter to the king in 1792. Hoppner and Lawrence now divided the favours of high society; if the latter had the advantage as painter to the court, Hoppner was favoured by the beauties of Carlton House. According to Allan Cunningham ‘the factions of Reynolds and Romney seemed revived in those of Hoppner and Lawrence,’ and he adds that Hoppner painted the whigs. But he painted tories also, and their rivalry was mainly professional. It, however, was keen and not free from bitterness on the side of Hoppner, who exclaimed against what he considered the impropriety of Lawrence's portraits of ladies. As rivals they were well matched, as both were handsome men, of fine address, and polished manners. Hoppner had also wit and humour, and was a brilliant talker. The rivalry was only ended by Hoppner's death, for Lawrence wrote in 1810: ‘You will be sorry to hear it, my most powerful competitor, he whom only (to my friends) I have acknowledged as my rival, is, I fear, sinking to the grave—I mean of course Hoppner.’

Hoppner remained popular and prosperous to the last. Among his numerous sitters were the Prince of Wales and the Duke of York (full-lengths of whom, with others of Lord Nelson and Lord Rodney, are in the state apartments of St. James's Palace), the Duke of Clarence, the Duke of Kent (at Windsor Castle), members of the Mornington family, including the Duke of Wellington (when Lieutenant-colonel Arthur Wellesley), two of his brothers, and Lady Culling Eardley (a group of this lady and her children, one