Thomas Sautelle Roberts facts for kids

Thomas Sautelle Roberts (born around 1760, died 1826) was a talented Irish artist. He was famous for painting beautiful landscapes, which are pictures of nature and outdoor scenes.

Early Life and Family

Thomas Sautelle Roberts was born in Waterford, Ireland. His birth name was Sautelle Roberts. He came from a family of artists. His father, John Roberts, was a well-known architect. His mother, Mary Susannah Sautelle, had family roots from the Huguenots, a group of French Protestants.

Thomas had many brothers and sisters, possibly 20 or 23! When his older brother, also named Thomas, passed away in 1778, Sautelle decided to use his brother's first name. He became known as Thomas Sautelle Roberts. This helped him benefit from his brother's fame as an artist. In 1799, he married Hannah Stephens, whose father was a merchant from Waterford.

Becoming an Artist

This landscape painting from around 1800 by Roberts is kept at the National Gallery of Ireland.

Thomas Roberts first trained to be an architect, just like his father. He learned from Thomas Ivory, who taught architectural drawing at the Dublin Society. In 1777, Thomas joined drawing schools there. He even won a medal in 1779 for his excellent drawing skills.

Soon, Thomas decided he wanted to be a painter instead of an architect. He probably learned a lot by copying or finishing his older brother's artwork. His early training in architecture helped him later. You can see this in some of his watercolor paintings of city streets.

Painting Career

Thomas Roberts spent his time working in both London and Dublin. He showed his paintings at important art shows. He exhibited at the Royal Academy many times between 1789 and 1818. He also showed his art at the British Institution. In Ireland, he was a frequent exhibitor with the Society of Artists of Ireland, showing over 60 works between 1800 and 1810.

In 1802, he had his own art show in Dublin. He displayed many watercolor drawings, mostly of County Wicklow. These were for a book project that was never finished. After this show, Roberts started focusing more on oil painting. His paintings were very similar to his older brother's. This has sometimes made it hard for experts to tell their works apart. Thomas's paintings are known for being less delicate and having thicker paint.

His fellow artists thought highly of him. In 1823, he was chosen as one of the first three members of the Royal Hibernian Academy (RHA). This was a very important art group in Ireland. He was also good friends with other artists, William Cuming and John Comerford. John Comerford often added figures, like people, to Roberts' landscape paintings.

Later Life and Legacy

In 1818, Thomas Roberts had a bad accident in London. He hurt his shoulder badly, which made it hard for him to paint. This made him feel very sad. He felt that he had been overlooked as the youngest child in his large family. Because of this, he left some money to the youngest children of his nieces and nephews.

After he passed away, the RHA showed some of his paintings at their first exhibition. They also showed more of his work in 1840. His wife, Hannah, left six of his paintings to the RHA in her will. These were shown in 1853. Today, the National Gallery of Ireland has many of his beautiful watercolors and oil paintings.