Balthazar Nebot facts for kids
Balthazar, also known as Balthasar Nebot, was a talented painter who worked in England from 1729 to 1765. He is known for his detailed paintings of city scenes and beautiful landscapes.
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Life of Balthazar Nebot
Balthazar Nebot first appeared in London records around 1729 or 1730. People believe he might have been from Spain or had Spanish family, but we don't know much about his early life. He got married in London around 1729 or 1730. Records show his family lived near St Paul's, Covent Garden.
Painting City Life
Nebot was famous for painting busy city scenes and detailed landscapes. His paintings of markets, like the one in Covent Garden, are similar to the style of a Dutch painter named Peter Angelis. Angelis also worked in Covent Garden.
Nebot painted many versions of the Piazza at Covent Garden, showing it from the southeast. One of his famous paintings from 1737 is now in the Tate Gallery. In these paintings, he often included everyday scenes with people who were well-known in the area at the time. Art expert Ellis Waterhouse noted that Nebot's figures were a bit like those by the famous artist William Hogarth, but Nebot's work didn't make fun of people.
Nebot also created an etching of a man known as "Foolish Sam." This man was well-known in the Leicester Fields area of London.
Gardens and Important People
In the 1730s, Nebot painted a series of eight pictures showing the new formal gardens at Hartwell House in Buckinghamshire. He painted these for Sir Thomas Lee. These paintings are very special because they show exactly what a country estate and its garden looked like back then. They also include detailed pictures of the Lee family, their guests, and even their employees. Today, these paintings are kept at the Buckinghamshire County Museum.
In 1741, Nebot painted a portrait of Thomas Coram. Coram was the person who started the Foundling Hospital, which was a home for abandoned children. In the painting, Coram is shown finding a baby left in a basket by the road, with the hospital in the background. Other artists later made prints of this painting in 1751 and 1817.
Scientific Drawings
Nebot also made some drawings for science. The University of Glasgow has some of his sketches and finished drawings of the female pelvis. These were based on dissections done by Robert Nesbitt in 1746. Two of these drawings were later made into engravings. All of Nebot's anatomical drawings were eventually bought by a famous surgeon named William Hunter. Interestingly, Robert Nesbitt, who did the dissections, was one of the people who helped run the Foundling Hospital. He also owned Nebot's portrait of Thomas Coram.
Later in his career, Nebot painted fourteen different views of Studley Royal and Fountains Abbey in Yorkshire. One of these paintings is dated 1762.
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