Thomas Banks (1735-1805) 
Sculptor of ideal works and monuments

Born in south London, the son of William Banks, Surveyor and builder, sometimes described as an architect. Banks was trained by apprenticeship in the workshop of Thomas Barlow, a successful London stonemason and woodcarver. He also studied drawing and modelling in the nearby sculpture studios of Peter Scheemakers and Joseph Nollekens. Banks further undertook life-drawing at the St Martin’s Lane Academy. During the 1760s he was successful in a succession of prize competitions run by the Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Science in London, and won a Gold Medal at the new Royal Academy in 1770. These helped to stimulate a turn from ornamental sculpture and architectural carving to the pursuit of ideal works.

In 1772 he was sent to Rome by the Royal Academy for three years’ study. He was able to create a succession of innovative ideal and expressive works in marble, taking advantage of the superior training in that medium available in Italy. The decorative elegance, abstraction and expressiveness of these works were almost without parallel at this time. Patronage remained sporadic, however, and Banks’ prospects looked bleak on his return to England 1780. Seeking commissions from Catherine the great, he went to St Petersburg in 1781-2, but returned frustrated. He poured all his hopes into a massive plaster model of Achilles Mourning, shown at the Academy in 1784 (now destroyed), and his Falling Titan. Although critically acclaimed for these works, Bank’s practice was almost entirely taken up with portraits and monuments.

Known for his radical politics, he was viewed with suspicion during the period of the French Revolution, and his political beliefs were a contributing factor when he failed to be selected as the Keeper of the Academy in 1803. John Flaxman wrote a fulsome tribute to him on his death, which was delivered privately at the Academy, rather than publicly for fear of causing offence to the King. Although his career was unfulfilled, he represented the most committed and innovative efforts in the field of ideal sculpture from these years.

James Barry (1741-1806) 
History painter

As a Catholic Irishman from modest origins, Barry suffered prejudice and professional frustration, while also attaining the greatest heights in his profession. The son of a Cork builder turned coastal trader, Barry’s early training as an artist was sporadic. He received some instructions from the locally-based landscape painter Thomas Butts, before travelling to Dublin where he studied at the drawing school run by the Dublin Society with funds provided by the government in London. The statesman and philosophical writer Edmund Burke took an interest in the young painter, and sent him first to London, and then to France and Italy to advance his studies. There he studied the antique and the old masters, developing his characteristically confrontational view of contemporary art and culture.

Travelling to London in 1771, he swiftly established himself as the most ambitious and stringent painter of ideal classicism, securing membership of the Royal Academy as early as 1772. But he did not attract patronage, and remained impoverished. From 1777 to 1782 he created the massive pictorial scheme on the Progress of Human Culture for the Great Room of the Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Science on the Strand, but on the basis that the Society covered the cost only of his materials. Famously, according to Blake, Barry had to live ‘on Bread and Apples’ to complete the work.

Although elected Professor of Painting at the Academy in 1784, Barry continued to feel persecuted and marginalised, and his views on contemporary culture and politics became more strident. In 1779 he was expelled from the Academy, ostensibly because of his criticism of that body but also of his radical political sympathies and commitment to Irish independence. He died in abject poverty, but for many such as William Blake, he exemplified the heroic ideal of the artist who pursued his high conceptions at the expense of material success or acceptance by the establishment.

Catherine Blake, neé Boucher (1762-1831) 
Painter and draughtsman, wife of William Blake

Catherine Blake was married to William Blake the poet and painter. Like William, Catherine was also an artist and was his loyal assistant. They met in 1782 at a time when William was suffering from unrequited love. When telling Catherine about his disappointment in love, Catherine pitied him. Catherine’s compassion moved William and he proposed to her. The couple married the same year they had met. Catherine signed her wedding contract with an ‘X’ because she was illiterate. William not only taught Catherine to read and write but also trained her in engraving. Catherine helped him with illustrating his book and remained a loyal assistant throughout his career. Although their relationship was a loving one, they remained childless.

Thomas Burke (1749-1815) 
Engraver

Burke was born in Ireland but spent his working life in England. He undertook his training at the Dublin Society’s schools under Robert West and moved to London in 1770. He continued his studies of mezzotint engraving under John Dixon. The majority of Burke’s prints were engravings after Angelica Kauffman for William Wynne Ryland who taught him stipple-engraving. Burke developed new techniques which led him to give up mezzotint. Among his most acclaimed works is Lady Rushout after Kaufmann, which was published by William Dickinson in 1784. His most successful engraving was The Nightmare after Johan Heinrich Fuesli which was sold for £500 to the publisher John Raphael Smith. The majority of Burke’s work focuses on subject based pictures but he did engrave a few portraits too. After falling seriously ill in the mid 1790s he produced very little work.

Maria Cosway, neé Hatfield (1760-1838) 
Painter and illustrator, born in Italy to an English family

Maria Cosway was a painter and illustrator and married to the artist Richard Cosway. Her parents ran three inns in Florence which were frequently visited by English tourists undertaking their Grand Tour. Maria Cosway studied under Violante Cerroti and Johan Zoffany. From 1773 to 1778, Maria copied Old Masters at the Uffizi and in 1778 she was elected to the Florentine Academia del Disegno. From 1781 to 1801, Maria exhibited her works at the Royal Academy in London where her portraits and history paintings were on display. In her work, she represented themes taken from the Old Testament and Shakespeare. Her striking Self-portrait, exhibited in the year 1787, won her a lot of attention. Having spent a period in Italy (1790-94), she undertook a number of projects in London such as her etchings of Richard Cosway’s drawings, illustrations of two moral tales for women (1800) and an illustration of a poem by Mary Robinson. During the period from 1801-3, Maria undertook copies and hand-coloured etchings of Old Masters in the Louvre. She returned to London to nurse her husband and managed major sales of his works. She did not succeed in finding a buyer of his work in London, so she took it to Italy where she was trying hard to find an appropriate buyer.

Richard Cosway (1742-1821) 
Painter draughtsman, dealer and collector

Cosway studied at Shipley’s Drawing School in the Strand, where his talent for drawing won him a number of prizes. He exhibited at the Free Society of Artists between 1761 and 1766. Cosway married the Anglo-Florentine artist Maria Cosway, nee Hadfield, in 1781. The couple moved to Schomberg House, Pall Mall, which was frequented by fashionable London society. Cosway moved to a bigger house in Stratford Place in London in 1791. Most of his artistic output comprises painted miniatures and ‘stained’ drawings which he executed in very large numbers. Cosway was renowned for his excellent use of line and his miniatures were marked by the distinctive ways in which he delineated shapes and forms such as the curly hair and heads of his sitters. Cosway also worked as an art dealer and one of his most important clients was the Prince Regent. His collection of artworks included Old Master paintings, furniture and sculpture which was auctioned in 1821.

John Dixon (1740-1811) 
Engraver

Dixon was born in Ireland and worked in England. He completed his training at the Dublin Society’s schools and moved to London around 1765. Before publishing some of his prints he worked in line and mezzotint. Among his mayor works are his prints after Rembrandt’s Framemaker and the highly commended Tygress after Stubbs. He was elected Director of the Society of Artists in 1772. His most highly acclaimed work was Fitzgerald James, 1st Duke of Leinster after Reynolds which was shown in the year 1775. After marrying a wealthy widow of high social standing, Dixon gave up working.

John Downman (1750-1824) 
Portrait draughtsman and painter

Downman was, for an artist, unusually well-born. His father was a lawyer and his mother the daughter of a private secretary of George I. He studied briefly at Liverpool, then at the Royal Academy and under Benjamin West. In 1773, he travelled to Italy with Joseph Wright of Derby. Returning to England in 1775, he developed his reputation as a portrait painter in Cambridge, London and Exeter. He settled in London in 1779 and gained a fashionable reputation as a portrait artist, undertaking a succession of royal commissions in the 1780s. His particular speciality was in chalk drawings, and he faced considerable challenges in getting these exhibited properly. He also created history and allegorical paintings, whose relationship with his theatrical portraits is not always clear. After 1800 he became, once more, itinerant, travelling the country in search of commissions.

John Flaxman (1755-1826) 
Sculptor of ideal works and monuments

Flaxman was the son of a plaster-cast maker who attended the Royal Academy Schools from the age of fifteen. Between 1775 and 1787, he executed designs based on Greek vase paintings for the pottery manufacturer John Wedgwood. Alongside his designing work he also worked as a sculptor. He was fascinated by Antique and Italian medieval art and during his stay in Rome from 1787 until 1794 he executed a life-sized sculpture in marble representing the Fury of Athamas. This work was commissioned by the 4th Earl of Bristol and Bishop of Derry who were renowned for their eccentricity. He also undertook work for English patrons who visited Italy and among these commissioned works, his drawings illustrating Dante’s Divine Comedy, were one of the most successful. His drawings were characterised by a simplicity which became even more prominent in the engravings made of his works by Tommaso Piroli. These were published from 1793 onwards and were influential throughout Europe. Returning to England in 1794, Flaxman received a large number of sculptural commissions. He also worked as a Professor of Sculpture at the Royal Academy. Most of his sculptures are funerary monuments and include works such as monuments to the Lords Mansfield and Nelson. His smaller sculptures, which were executed in relief, are among his most characteristic works and Flaxman’s talent for linear design is fully evident in them.

John Haynes (1760-1829) 
Painter and etcher

Born in Shrewsbury in 1760, John Haynes worked both as an etcher and painter. John Hamilton Mortimer was his teacher whose works he etched. Furthermore, he also copied from paintings by Reynolds. Having travelled to Jamaica, he returned to Shrewsbury to work as a teacher of drawing. He died in Shrewsbury in 1829.

Theodor von Holst, (1810-1844) 
History painter, born in London to a family of Russian and Livonian descent

Holst’s teacher was Fuseli and from 1824 he attended the Royal Academy Schools. His early drawings show a clear influence of his teacher’s style. He was patronised by the painter Thomas Lawrence and also executed commissions for George the IV, mainly erotic drawings. His first show at the Royal Academy was in 1827 where his works represented scenes from Goethe’s Faust. Holst continued to be interested in German Romantic themes and after visiting Dresden in 1829 his style was influenced by the Nazarene’s painters. During the latter part of career, Holst focussed on less dramatic themes.

James Jefferys (1751-1784) 
History painter and draughtsman

Jeffreys has been identified as the artist of a sketchbook produced in Rome in which bizarre, weird and distorted figures which are reminiscent of Fuseli’s style and manner. Jeffreys showed promising talent but died too young to have a successful career.

Johann Caspar Lavater (1741-1801) 
Poet and physiognomist

Born in Zurich in 1741 he attended Gymnasium where Johann Jakob Bodmer and Johann Jakob Breitinger were among his teachers. In 1762, Lavater and his fellow theology student John Henry Fuseli published a pamphlet attacking a corrupt Zurich official. As a result of this action, they were forced to leave Zurich. Being ordained in 1761 he worked as a pastor in many churches in Zurich. He achieved popularity with his mystical writings and met many admirers during his travels through Germany. Although his influence has waned he is still known in association with his work relating to physiognomy. His major work on this subject was published between 1775 and 1778. This work made Lavater well known and was widely read in Germany, France and England. The delightful style of publication as well as the illustrations contributed to the success of Lavater’s most well known work. Moreover, Lavater also published works of poetry including epics about Christ which were similar in style to the poetry of Klopstock. In 1774 he fell out with his friend Goethe who accused Lavater of superstition. Lavater was closely associated with religious orthodoxy and for his contempt of rationalism. Although his influence declined during the latter part of his life, he was renowned for his patriotic behaviour during the occupation of Switzerland by French troops. He was shot during the occupation in 1800 and suffered greatly as a result of this attack until his death a year later.

Philip James De Loutherbourg (born Philippe Jacques) (1740-1812) 
Strasbourgian theatre designer and painter of literary themes; based permanently in England from 1771

Loutherbourg worked as a painter, illustrator and stage designer in France and in England. His father was employed by the court of Darmstadt as miniature painter and engraver. Loutherbourg moved to Paris in 1755 where he studied under Carlo Vanloo. He was also a pupil of Jean-Georges Wille and worked at Francesco Casanova’s studio. Loutherbourg’s style was marked by vivid and fresh colour and his skill in representing specific light and weather conditions.

During 1762 and 1771, Loutherbourg was one of the most successful painters at the Paris Salon. His success culminated in him being elected to the Academie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture where he was also nominated as ‘Peintre du Roi’. Loutherbourg undertook travels to Marsellie, Italy, Germany and Switzerland. He visited London in 1771, hoping to benefit from the wealthy English market. He was introduced to David Garrick by Jean Monnet who was the director of the Opera Comique. Loutherbourg became principal scene designer at Drury Lane Theatre and showed talent in developing imaginative scene designs. He became renowned for his lighting and sound effects and the ways in which he used painted drops between scenes as well as the wide range of scenery designs. His work for the theatre laid the foundation for the development of theatrical illusion.

During the 1780s Loutherbourg continued his travels through England and Wales. He was also a painter of landscapes which were exhibited at the Royal Academy. These are characterised by their atmospheric effect with very little emphasis on figures and found great appeal with his clients. After an unsuccessful trip to Switzerland, where he met the self-proclaimed mystic Count Cagliostro, he returned to London where he began practicing as a faith healer. However, this was met with public contempt and Loutherbourg thereafter focused his work entirely on art. From the 1790s onwards, he concentrated on history paintings as well as paintings depicting battle scenes which were exhibited at the Salon in Paris. His success as a painter of battle scenes culminated in his appointment as Historical Painter to William Frederick, Duke of Gloucester in 1807. He also undertook illustration work, mainly for Bell’s second edition of Shakespeare.

John Hamilton Mortimer (1741-1779) 
Painter and etcher

Mortimer’s teacher was the portrait painter Thomas Hudson. He also pursued his studies at St Martin’s Lane Academy in London where the historical painter Robert Edge Pyne was one of his teachers. The style of his portrait paintings resembled works by Wright of Derby and his conversation pieces showed the influence of Zoffany. From 1770 onwards, a darker side appeared in Mortimer’s work and the influence of Salvator Rosa became evident. He also achieved success as an etcher and executed etchings of Shakespearean Heads which were widely admired and influenced the works of other artists, among them Thomas Rowlandson.

Richard Newton (1777-1798) 
Caricature engraver

Richard Newton worked both as a caricaturist and miniature-painter and achieved recognition as a caricaturist at a young age. His work encompasses numerous caricatures which were similar in style to those by Gillray. He died at the age of twenty one.

Georgina North (1798-1835) 
Amateur draughtswoman and watercolour artist

Georgina North was a student of Fuseli. Her mother, the Countess of Guilford; was a major patron of Fuseli who was a frequent visitor at her house. His patron also gave him a small cottage to work in. Fuseli was full of praise for Georgina’s work. According to John Knowles ‘he had for Lady Georgian, that affection which a master usually feels towards an amiable, accomplished, and highly promising pupil. This young lady had devoted much time to the study of the Fine Arts, and, assisted by the occasional hints and instructions of Fuseli, has arrived at eminence in the highest branch, that of historical design.’ North produced work that showed Fuseli’s strong influence. Her designs were created in Fuseli’s idiom.

James Northcote (1746-1831) 
Portrait and history painter

Before joining the Royal Academy Schools and studying under Joshua Reynolds, Northcote was largely self-taught. He was Reynold’s assistant until 1776. During the early to mid 1770s his portraits were shown at the Royal Academy. Northcote undertook travels in Italy having spent some time executing portrait paintings in Plymouth. In Italy, Northcote he was elected to several academies including the Accademia Imperiale in Florence. Returning to England in 1780, he decided to focus on executing history paintings but mainly worked as a portrait painter. His work was frequently shown at the Royal Academy and his style is marked by subtle use of colour and careful drawing. Further commissions included his nine paintings for the Boydell Shakespeare Gallery in 1786 and paintings for Robert Bowyer’s edition of David Hume’s History of England. Although Boydell’s Shakespeare Gallery failed to achieve its aim, Northcote continued to execute history paintings

William Raddon (1816-1862) 
Engraver

William Raddon was active as designer, painter and engraver and his work often represented entomological subjects. He was a friend of Fuseli who recommended his work to Sydenham Edwards in the hope of securing commissions and patrons for Raddon. Raddon produced an engraving of The Nightmare which was published as a print in 1827.

John Francis Rigaud (1742-1810) 
French-Italian history and portrait painter, based permanently in England from 1771

Rigaud undertook his studies in various cities including Turin, Florence, Bologna and Rome. Having settled in London in 1771, he became an Associate of the Royal Academy in 1772 and an Academician in 1784. The majority of his commissions included historical paintings as well as decorative work and portraits. He contributed small pictures to Boydell’s Shakespeare Gallery such as his Scene from Romeo and Juliet. He undertook works for the Macklin’s Poets’ Gallery. Among his most significant commissions is his decoration of the four pendentives of the Common Council Chamber in the Guildhall in London. Rigaud executed a number of large scale decorative schemes for fashionable interiors. Whilst his designs appeared Neo-classical in design, the work executed during the latter part of his career showed the influence of the Baroque style. His narrative paintings covered a wide range of themes and subjects and his portraits are frank and expressive in style.

George Romney (1734-1802) 
History and portrait painter

Having trained in the north of England, George Romney moved to London in 1762, where his work was shown at the Society of Arts and at the Society of Artists. Romney was a keen student of old masters prints and casts after the antique and he pursued this interest while in Italy from 1773 to 1775. This activity influenced his portraits. Unlike the majority of British eighteenth-century portraitists, Romney’s figures are marked by an elongated shape and simple classical forms. He did not achieve great success as a history painter but he executed a large number of pen and wash drawings representing themes from Shakespeare and Milton.

Alexander Runciman (1736-1785) 
History painter

Runciman’s works encompass topographical etchings and small oil panels representing religious themes as well as scenes from Shakespeare such as his King Lear in the Storm of 1767. Having spent several months in London, he left for Rome where he executed his Self-Portrait which shows him studying a sculpted figure by Michelangelo from the Medici Chapel. During his stay in Rome he produced further works such as The Return of the Prodigal Son. Critical attacks on his work led to severe depression and ill-health. Runciman destroyed a large number of his own works.

John Runciman (1744-1768/9) 
History and landscape painter

John Runciman was the brother of the history painter Alexander Runciman. Both were born in Scotland and they travelled to Rome around 1766. His brother Alexander remained in Italy until the year 1770 but John died in Naples at a young age. John’s King Lear in the Storm is a richly imagined interpretation of Shakespeare’s play which is also his best known work. Unfortunately, John destroyed a large number of his works shortly before he died.

Thomas Rowlandson (1757-1827) 
Caricaturist and draughtsman

Rowlandson studied at the Royal Academy Schools. From 1778 he mainly worked as a watercolour painter and his works produced at that time represented attractive young women as well as grotesque subjects which showed the influence of John Hamilton Mortimer’s work. In 1784 he completed a series of sketches which led to the patronage of the Prince of Wales. His political caricatures are unlike those by Gillray as they lack the savagery which characterizes Gillray’s work. Although he produced a large number of works around the early 1790s, he lived in poverty. However, in 1797 he found employment with the print dealer Rudolph Ackermann who published his prints. Returning to Italy in the 1820s, Rowlandson studied antique art. Rowlandson’s works cover a wide range of themes and subject-matter, including erotica. His Stare-case at Somerset House is considered to be a masterpiece and shows his great talent.

John Raphael Smith (1751-1812) 
Mezzotint engraver and print publisher

At the age of ten John Raphael Smith was apprenticed to a linen draper and as a draper’s assistant in London from around 1767. In about 1773 Smith opened a draper’s shop in Exeter Exchange where he engraved and sold his prints. His mezzotints were shown at the Society of Artists from 1773 to 1777. The majority of these works were copies from paintings by Royal Academicians. He showed great skill in adapting his style to the various artists whose works he copied, including painters such as Reynolds, Hoppner, West and Romney. He was patronized by the Prince of Wales whose mezzotint engraver he became in 1784 and he exhibited a mezzotint portrait of the Prince of Wales at the Society of Artists in 1784. His engravings and crayon portraits were frequently on display at the Royal Academy from 1779 until 1805. His output during the late eighteenth-century encompassed four hundred prints in mezzotint, aquatint and stipple based on his own designs. Alongside his career as an engraver, he also published and sold his prints successfully. Due to the collapse of the print market in 1803, Smith focussed on creating pastel portraits during his final years: at the same time he also travelled extensively. The quality of his works produced around this time differs widely; some works lack technical skill whilst others are marked by charm and brilliance. His children pursued careers as artists too: his son John Rubens Smith became a painter of portraits and literary genre scenes, whilst his daughter became a painter of watercolours and miniatures.

Robert Thew (1758-1802) 
Engraver

Born in Holderness, Yorkshire, Robert Thew received very little education and was largely self-taught and began to engrave after having created a camera obscura. He achieved a high level of skill despite the lack of formal training. Having spent a few years in Hull where he engraved shop-bills and tradesmen’s cards as well as etching views of the new dock. His excellent image of a woman’s head after artist Dou led to a meeting with John Boydell for whom he produced twenty-two engravings of works by Opie, Westall, Northcote and Peters. Furthermore, Thew engraved portraits based on works by Reynolds, Gresham, Turner and Crosse. He was appointed historical engraver to the Prince of Wales. Thew died in 1802 in Hertfordshire.

Henry Tresham (1750/1-1814) 
History painter and art dealer

Henry Tresham undertook his training at the Dublin Society of Artists where he won an exhibition prize in 1773. After trips to London and Rome, he stayed on in Rome for fourteen years where he met fellow artists including John Henry Fuseli, Thomas Banks and James Northcote. In Rome, Tresham’s taste was influenced by this circle of Neo-classical artists. Returning to London in 1789 he became a major figure in artistic circles. His works were frequently exhibited at the Royal Academy and he was appointed Professor of Painting at the Royal Academy. However, ill-health forced him to resign from this position. Throughout his career, Tresham worked as an art dealer, editor and poet. He achieved fame for his large-scale history paintings, all of which are untraced. These large-scale works were based on themes taken from Classical history and commissioned by Frederick Augustus Harvey, the 4th Earl of Bristol. Tresham also contributed to history painting projects such as Boydell’s Shakespeare Gallery. Engravings made after Tresham’s works are characterized by strong, muscular figures, mannered poses and elongated bodies. Tresham’s drawings represent a wider range of themes than the engravings that were made after his work and include landscape and genre scenes.

Benjamin West (1738-1820) 
American history painter, based permanently in England from 1763

Benjamin West was born in Pennsylvania but lived permanently in England from 1763. While still in America, he trained under Gustavus Hesselius. Before commencing his studies in Italy he mainly painted portraits. It was in London where he moved to in 1763 and where he became famous a painter of historical pictures. His Agrippina with the Ashes of Germanicus led to patronage of George III. In his painting The Death of Wolfe, West showed radical ideas such as painting figures in contemporary dress, an unconventional practice at that time. He achieved further success as a painter of medieval history paintings with works representing scenes from the life of Edward III. West became President of the Royal Academy in 1792 after the death of Reynolds. His painting Death on a Pale Horse shows signs of the emerging Romanticism. While living in London, West’s studio was frequently visited by fellow American painters who journeyed through Europe.

George Moutard Woodward (1760-1809) 
Caricature draughtsman

George Mautard Woodward was active as an amateur watercolorist and caricaturist. His numerous caricatures were engraved by artists including Isaac Cruikschank and Thomas Rowlandson. He achieved fame with satirical works such as General Discontent and his work is often considered to anticipate the modern comic strip. Woodward’s work influenced other artists such as Newton who copied a few of Woodward’s characteristics; for example the way in which Woodward represented the downward-set mouths of old men. A large number of his prints include images of ghosts and he succeeded in becoming a well-known designer. He died in a pub having spent much of his life in taverns drinking with his companions.

Joseph Wright 'of Derby’ (1734-1797) 
Landscape, history and portrait painter

Wright’s teacher was Thomas Hudson who taught him from 1751 to 1757. He produced large-scale works including Mr and Mrs Thomas Coltman, executed around 1771-2. This work also shows a beginning interest in landscape painting. From the early 1760s he produced so called ‘candle-light’ pictures which reveal his great skill at representing light and shade. Some of Wright’s works such as The Orrery (1766) and The Old Man and Death (1773) were influenced by fellow artist John Hamilton Mortimer and are of a grotesque nature. He studied antique art during his stay in Rome and Naples from late 1773 to 1775. Having spent a less successful time in Bath he moved back to his birthplace Derby where he painted portraits for the next two decades. He also painted landscapes of Derbyshire. He contributed works to the Boydell Shakespeare Gallery such as his Romeo and Juliet.