In His Own Light

William Dobson (1611–1646) lived in explosive times. His father squandered his gentleman’s income and so Dobson was apprenticed to a London portraitist at the age of 14. He may also have studied under the German-born painter Francis Cleyn, who designed tapestries for King Charles I. Dobson clearly showed promise as a portraitist, working in an energetic naturalistic style, and Anthony van Dyck soon brought him to the king’s attention. But in 1642, just as Dobson’s career was taking off, the English Civil War broke out. Dobson followed Charles I to his court in exile in Oxford and became the official Royalist chronicler as the king battled Oliver Cromwell’s Parliamentarians. Two hundred thousand people died and many towns and villages were destroyed during the wars.

This self-portrait shows Dobson still in his twenties. It was painted before the war, around the time he married his second wife Judith Sanders, and her portrait – its companion piece – hangs alongside it in Tate Britain, finally reunited after four decades apart. However, the two paintings could not be more different. Sanders looks directly at us, assured and comfortable, dark curls escaping her satin cap. We can see the speedy brushwork delineating her gown and necklace, but her face is nuanced and delicate, with coral lips and pinpoints of light caught in her brown eyes.

What a contrast to Dobson’s self-portrait. His is full of brooding intent, lips slightly parted in concentration, eyes looking beyond the viewer, questioning and searching. Unlike Sanders’s white satin cap and gown, Dobson’s dark clothes and hair recede into the black background, directing our focus solely to his face. Dobson was studying himself, using himself as a model, just as Rembrandt van Rijn was prone to do in Amsterdam (Dobson may have seen an early self-portrait by Rembrandt as the king was an avid collector of the artist’s work). Through Cleyn, Dobson may also have had access to Charles I’s art collection, one of the most splendid in Europe. In his own self-portrait, Dobson – like Rembrandt – employed heavy impasto to add drama, and exaggerated the light and shade as the Utrecht Caravaggisti (Dutch followers of Caravaggio) were partial to do.

Dobson moved to Oxford just a few years after completing this self-portrait. There he painted the king, his sons and his Royalist followers in ornate costumes and flowing curls, full of regal hubris. These portraits captured a moment in time when the English were forced to choose sides. They also confirmed Dobson as a hugely talented portraitist and a worthy successor to Van Dyck, who had died in 1641. But it turned out that Dobson had thrown his cap in with the wrong side. He returned to London after the king was defeated in 1645, and he died in poverty the following year. He was 35.

^{William Dobson’s Self-Portrait is currently included in the Tate Britain display Historic and Modern British Art: Court versus Parliament: 1640–1720.}

^{Charlotte Mullins is an art critic, writer and broadcaster. Her latest book, The Art Isles, is published by Yale University Press.}

^{Self-Portrait was purchased jointly with the National Portrait Gallery, with exceptional support from The National Lottery Heritage Fund, major support from Art Fund and the Deborah Loeb Brice Foundation, and with additional support from the Portrait Fund, the Nicholas Themans Trust, Bjorn Saven CBE, David and Emma Verey Charitable Trust, John J. Studzinski CBE, The Leche Trust, The Murray Family, Tavolozza Foundation and other generous supporters 2025.}