Bibliography

Prolific engraver and draughtsman. The son of a landscape painter, he enrolled at the Royal Academy schools at the age of 15, becoming a pupil of Bartolozzi, whose portrait by Russell (q.v.) he owned along with that of Tomkins’s wife Lucy Jones, whom he married in 1787. His brothers and his daughter Emma, Mrs Samuel Smith, were also engravers. He also engraved several other Russell portraits and a pastel by Downman. He taught the royal princesses, and engraved their designs; he was appointed historical engraver to Queen Charlotte in 1793. The known examples are in mixed media, including coloured chalks and watercolour, and are probably not to be regarded as pastels