Bridgwater's Blake Museum

People of Bridgwater : Chubb Portraits

John Chubb (1746-1818) was a Bridgwater timber and wine merchant and a fine amateur artist. He painted local scenery and portraits of his fellow townsfolk. Many of these were local tradesmen with their tools. He was an assiduous letter-writer and also wrote verse.

Chubb was Mayor in 1788 and active in the local campaign to abolish the Slave Trade.

Sixty of the sketches and drawings were loaned to the Museum in 1980. Some 360 sketches and finished drawings were purchased by the Blake Museum, Bridgwater, in 2004 for £123,000, grant-aided by the Heritage Lottery Fund, the National Art Collection Fund, the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council and the Victoria and Albert Museum, as well as funds raised locally.

The slide-show here is only a part of the collection.

Watch a Quicktime® slideshow of Chubb portraits (44MB)

Not got Quicktime® player? Download it here

Download a brochure about Chubb (1.6MB pdf)