Robert Freebairn Art for Sale at Auction

b. 1765 - d. 1808

Robert Freebairn (1765 - 1808)


Born in 1765, the son of a London chemist, Freebairn is believed to have studied under Wilson until around the age of fifteen. From around 1780 he worked n the studio of Philip Reinagle and entered his first painting into the Royal Academy in 1782, exhibiting there for the following three years.

In around 1786 Freebairn fulfilled his ambition of travelling to Italy where he encountered the work of the great Scottish painter Jacob More, whose painting had a great influence on Freebairn. In contrast, he seems to have inherited very little in the way of technique or style from either Wilson or Reinagle, developing his own crisp, clear style.

In around 1792 Freebairn moved back to London, and exhibited at the RA every year thereafter, a total of 54 paintings in his career. He also showed 22 works at the British Institution. He produced some Welsh and English landscapes, however, the majority of his paintings, and the work for which he is best known are Italian scenes.