John Philip Davis

John Philip "Pope" Davis (1784-1862), a portrait and subject painter, first exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1811. In 1824 he went to Rome, and painted 'The Talbot Family receiving the Papal Benediction:' whence his cognomen of 'Pope Davis.' He next year received a prize of £50 from the British Institution. With his friend Haydon, he was a great opponent of the Academy, where he did not exhibit after 1843. He died in 1862, and after his death was published his 'Thoughts on Great Painters.' His best-known work is 'The Love-Letter,' exhibited at the British Institution in 1826.

Richard Wellesley, 1st Marquess Wellesley, now at the National Portrait Gallery

References

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Bryan, Michael (1886). "Davis, J. P.". In Graves, Robert Edmund (ed.). Bryan's Dictionary of Painters and Engravers (A–K). I (3rd ed.). London: George Bell & Sons.