Portrait of the Great Phiz
Name: Browne Hablot Knight
Dates: 1815 - 1882
Profession: Art
Address: 239 Ladbroke Grove, W10
Dates at address: 1874 - 1880
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Biography
Hablot Browne, nicknamed Phiz, has a mysterious family history.
Officially son of William and Katherine Browne, family legend
states he was actually the illegitimate son of their eldest
daughter Kate and her fiancé Nicolas Hablot, a Napoleonic cavalry
officer. Hablot married another woman and William fled to America
after embezzling funds, so Katherine raised him as her son. Early
promise led his brother-in-law, Elhanan Bicknell, to sponsor his
apprenticeship as a line-engraver. In 1840 he married Susannah
Reynolds and they had nine surviving children, all artistic.
Bored of copying other’s work, he quit his apprenticeship and
set up a studio with fellow student Robert Young. While
illustrating a pamphlet he met Charles Dickens who commissioned him
to illustrate his Pickwick Papers, followed by ten other novels.
Phiz’s work was so popular he produced an estimated 3660 pictures
in his lifetime. A suspected stroke in 1868 left him badly
disabled. Incredibly, he produced several more images after
teaching himself to draw by holding a pencil between two fingers,
as his thumbs did not work, and moving his whole body.
After moving to Kensington in 1874 his good friend Luke Fildes
tried to help, persuading Browne to apply for a state pension,
which was refused, then successfully persuading the Royal Academy
to come to his aid. Throughout everything Browne remained
optimistic and cheerful. Using his new pension he moved his family
to Sussex where he died in 1882.
Related records:
Sir Samuel Luke Fildes – Art