Thomas Douglas Guest

Thomas Douglas Guest (1781–1845), often simply Douglas Guest, was a British historical- and portrait painter, and lecturer and writer on art.

Life He was the son of Thomas Robert Guest, an artist who lived in Salisbury from the beginning of the 19th Century, and his wife Margaret (née Douglass).

Guest studied at the schools of the Royal Academy, and in 1803 sent his first contribution to its exhibitions: a portrait of the sculptor Joseph Wilton. The next year he was represented by Madonna and Child, and in 1805 was awarded the gold medal for historical painting, the subject being Bearing the Dead Body of Patroclus to the Camp, Achilles's Grief. This work was exhibited at the British Institution in 1807. He continued to contribute paintings to the Academy until 1838 (see list below). He also exhibited several pictures at the British Institution, and a few at the Society of British Artists. and as measuring 21 feet high and 13 feet wide. Towards the end of the 19th century, the Dictionary of National Biography noted that some remains of it survived in the vestry. In 1839 he showed two small works at the British Institution, and in 1844 he contributed a large cartoon depicting the signing of Magna Carta to the exhibition held at Westminster Hall to choose artists to decorate the rebuilt Houses of Parliament.

Works

Portrait of the sculptor Joseph Wilton (1803) Madonna and Child (1804) Bearing the Dead Body of Patroclus to the Camp, Achilles's Grief (1805) Penelope unravelling the web (1806) Cupid wrestling with Pan; an allegory (1808) Venus recumbent and Cupids (1809) Clorinda (1811) Cupid and Psyche (1811) The Second Appearance of the Messiah (1834) The Judgement of Hercules (1834) The Prism (1838) Phaeton driving the Chariot of the Sun (1838)