Opie, John (1761-1807), was an English painter of portraits and historical scenes. Opie painted portraits throughout his career and began painting historical scenes in 1785. Today, his dramatic and ambitious historical paintings are his best-known works. The most famous are James I of Scotland Assassinated by Graham at the Instigation of his Uncle the Duke of Atholl (1786) and The Assassination of David Rizzio (1787).
Opie was born in May 1761 near St. Agnes, in Cornwall. His early portraits interested Dr. John Wolcot of Truro (Peter Pindar, the satirist and poet), who took the artist to London in 1780. Opie first exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1782 and was elected a member of the Royal Academy of Arts, an association of artists, in 1787. His sudden early success as an artist earned him the nickname of “the Cornish wonder.” Opie died on April 9, 1807.
