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Henry James Richter
Henry James Richter (1772–1857), artist and philosopher, was born in Middlesex, possibly at 40 Great Newport Street, Soho, on 8 March 1772 and baptised at St Anne's Church, Soho, on 5 April at that same year. Family Henry James was the second son (of five children) of John Augustus Richter and Mary Haig. John was originally from Dresden, Germany and was an artist, engraver, and Scagliola, scagliolist, well known for his works in imitation of marble. John Augustus Richter was a partner with Domenico Bartoli another scagliolist in London beginning in 1767 and continuing through the 1777 or 1778. Bartoli emigrated from the port city of Livorn, Italy (often referred to in English as Leghorn) and, after working for almost 10 years with Richter, moved on to Ireland. One notable item the elder Richter produced was a child's building blocks set called Richter's Anchor Blocks (an example of which is currently in the collection of the UK National Trust Museum of Childhood.) Henry's o ...
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Royal Academy Of Arts
The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly in London. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its purpose is to promote the creation, enjoyment and appreciation of the visual arts through exhibitions, education and debate. History The origin of the Royal Academy of Arts lies in an attempt in 1755 by members of the Royal Society of Arts, Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce, principally the sculptor Henry Cheere, to found an autonomous academy of arts. Prior to this a number of artists were members of the Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce, including Cheere and William Hogarth, or were involved in small-scale private art academies, such as the St Martin's Lane Academy. Although Cheere's attempt failed, the eventual charter, called an 'Instrument', used to establish the Royal Academy ...
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William Blake
William Blake (28 November 1757 – 12 August 1827) was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognised during his life, Blake is now considered a seminal figure in the history of the poetry and visual art of the Romantic Age. What he called his " prophetic works" were said by 20th-century critic Northrop Frye to form "what is in proportion to its merits the least read body of poetry in the English language". His visual artistry led 21st-century critic Jonathan Jones to proclaim him "far and away the greatest artist Britain has ever produced". In 2002, Blake was placed at number 38 in the BBC's poll of the 100 Greatest Britons. While he lived in London his entire life, except for three years spent in Felpham, he produced a diverse and symbolically rich collection of works, which embraced the imagination as "the body of God" or "human existence itself". Although Blake was considered mad by contemporaries for his idiosyncratic views, he is held in high regard b ...
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James Heath (engraver)
James Heath (19 April 1757 – 15 November 1834) was a British engraver. He enjoyed the patronage of George III and successive monarchs. Life and work Heath was born in Newgate, London, the son of George Heath, a bookbinder (d. 1773). He was articled to the engraver Joseph Collyer the younger, an exacting master who required steady application from his pupil - as a result, Heath acquired a great mechanical skill in his art. His earliest engravings were of portraits in the collected edition of Horace Walpole's works. He was subsequently employed to engrave Thomas Stothard's designs for Harrison's ''The Novelist's Magazine'' and Bell's ''Poets of Great Britain'', and the taste and dexterity with which he rendered these small illustrations brought this style of illustration into great popularity. He made many engravings after artists such as Stothard, Smirke, and others, and these were to be found in publications such as: Sharpe's ''British Classics'', the ''Lady's Poetica ...
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George Arnald
George Arnald (1763 – 21 November 1841) was a British painter who specialised in landscapes, including topographical views to illustrated county histories. He is best known for his celebrated painting depicting the Battle of the Nile. Biography George Arnald was born in 1763. One account places his birth in the village of Farndip (now Farndish) in Northamptonshire (now Bedfordshire), although others suggest he was born in Berkshire. There is little information about Arnald's early years, but it is believed that he began his working life as a domestic servant before turning to the study of art. He was a student of the landscape painter and engraver William Pether (c. 1738–1821). Arnald first exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1788, and eventually had 176 works exhibited there. He also exhibited 63 works at the British Institution. He was elected an associate member of the Royal Academy on 5 November 1810, but was never admitted to full membership. Speaking to Sir ...
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Ozias Humphry
Ozias Humphry (or Humphrey) (8 September 1742 – 9 March 1810) was a leading English painter of portrait miniatures, later oils and pastels, of the 18th century. He was elected to the Royal Academy in 1791, and in 1792 he was appointed ''Portrait Painter in Crayons to the King'' (i.e. pastels). Name ''Humphry'' is the spelling Ozias himself used in his signature on the backing card of his miniature of ''Charlotte, Princess Royal'' (1769; Windsor Castle). This is also the spelling given in the catalogues of the annual exhibitions of the Royal Academy from 1779 to 1795.see Algernon Graves, ''The Royal Academy of Arts. A complete dictionary of contributors and their work from its foundation in 1769 to 1904'', vol. IV, London 1906, s.v. Humphry, Ozias, R.A. The different spelling in the far more common form of ''Humphrey'' may originally well be due to a mistake but was already in use during his own lifetime. It appears thus in the Royal Academy catalogues for the years 1796 and ...
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Henry Thomson (painter)
Henry Thomson RA (31 July 1773 – 5 April 1843) was an English artist and Royal Academician who became Keeper of the Royal Academy. As a painter, he specialized in historical, mythological and literary subjects. He was also a translator. Life Born in Portsea, Portsmouth, Thomson was the son of a naval purser who encouraged his son's interest in art and took him to Paris in 1787. They returned to England two years later, as a result of the French Revolution. From 1791 to 1792, Thomson attended the Royal Academy Schools. He then continued to train under John Opie, before travelling again in Europe with his father. They were in Italy between 1793 and 1798, then in Austria and Germany in 1799. After his return to England later that year, Thomson's artistic career made speedy progress. In the Royal Academy exhibition of 1800 he exhibited paintings of classical subjects. The following year he was elected an associate member of the Academy and in 1804 an Academician.
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James Ward (English Artist)
James Ward (23 October 1769 – 17 November 1859) was an English painter, particularly of animals, and an engraver. Biography Born in London to James Ward and Rachael Goldsmith, and younger brother of William Ward the engraver, James Ward was influenced by many people, but his career is conventionally divided into two periods: until 1803, his single greatest influence was his brother in law George Morland; from that time, it was Rubens. From 1810 or so onward, Ward specialised in painting horses within landscapes; slightly later, he turned to very large-scale landscapes, of which ''Gordale Scar'' (Tate, London), completed in 1814 or 1815 and depicting Gordale Scar (Yorkshire) as an example of the sublime, is considered his masterpiece and a masterpiece of English Romantic painting. Ward devoted much of the period 1815–21 to the painting of a gigantic work titled '' Allegory of Waterloo'' (now lost); this neither was much praised nor brought in the revenue Ward had ...
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Benjamin West
Benjamin West, (October 10, 1738 – March 11, 1820) was a British-American artist who painted famous historical scenes such as '' The Death of Nelson'', ''The Death of General Wolfe'', the '' Treaty of Paris'', and '' Benjamin Franklin Drawing Electricity from the Sky''. Entirely self-taught, West soon gained valuable patronage and toured Europe, eventually settling in London. He impressed King George III and was largely responsible for the launch of the Royal Academy, of which he became the second president (after Sir Joshua Reynolds). He was appointed historical painter to the court and Surveyor of the King's Pictures. West also painted religious subjects, as in his huge work ''The Preservation of St Paul after a Shipwreck at Malta'', at the Chapel of St Peter and St Paul at the Old Royal Naval College in Greenwich, and ''Christ Healing the Sick'', presented to the National Gallery. Early life West was born in Springfield, Pennsylvania, in a house that is now in the bo ...
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Robert Cromek
Robert Hartley Cromek (1770–1812) was an English engraver, editor, art dealer and entrepreneur who was most active in the early nineteenth century. He is best known for having allegedly cheated William Blake out of the potential profits of his engraving depicting Chaucer's Canterbury Pilgrims. In the early years of the nineteenth century Cromek had supported Blake, and had engraved Blake's design for Benjamin Heath Malkin's ''A Father's Memoirs of his Child'' in 1806. Cromek later commissioned Blake to illustrate Robert Blair's poem ''The Grave''. Blake had produced the designs, but his sample engraving was considered by Cromek to be too crude to attract subscribers. Cromek then gave the lucrative job of engraving Blake's designs to a rival engraver Luigi Schiavonetti. In response, Blake proceeded to create a self-engraved illustration to Chaucer's ''Canterbury Tales''. Cromek, however, had also given the idea to Blake's friend Thomas Stothard Thomas Stothard (17 August 1 ...
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Lives Of The English Poets
''Lives of the Most Eminent English Poets'' (1779–81), alternatively known by the shorter title ''Lives of the Poets'', is a work by Samuel Johnson comprising short biographies and critical appraisals of 52 poets, most of whom lived during the eighteenth century. These were arranged, approximately, by date of death. From the close of the 18th century, expanded editions and updates of Johnson's work began to appear. Background Johnson began writing individual biographical pieces in 1740, the first being devoted to Jean-Philippe Baratier, Robert Blake, and Francis Drake. In 1744 he wrote his first extended literary biography, the ''Life of Mr Richard Savage'', in honour of a friend who had died the year before. Various accounts are given of how Johnson came to write his ''Lives of the Poets'' during an episode of anti-Scottish sentiment in England. As related in the preface to the 1891 edition of the Lives, Scottish publishers had started to produce editions of the collec ...
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Samuel Johnson
Samuel Johnson (18 September 1709  – 13 December 1784), often called Dr Johnson, was an English writer who made lasting contributions as a poet, playwright, essayist, moralist, critic, biographer, editor and lexicographer. The ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' calls him "arguably the most distinguished man of letters in English history". Born in Lichfield, Staffordshire, he attended Pembroke College, Oxford until lack of funds forced him to leave. After working as a teacher, he moved to London and began writing for ''The Gentleman's Magazine''. Early works include ''Life of Mr Richard Savage'', the poems ''London'' and ''The Vanity of Human Wishes'' and the play ''Irene''. After nine years' effort, Johnson's '' A Dictionary of the English Language'' appeared in 1755, and was acclaimed as "one of the greatest single achievements of scholarship". Later work included essays, an annotated ''The Plays of William Shakespeare'', and the apologue ''The History of R ...
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Clarissa Harlowe
''Clarissa; or, The History of a Young Lady: Comprehending the Most Important Concerns of Private Life. And Particularly Shewing, the Distresses that May Attend the Misconduct Both of Parents and Children, In Relation to Marriage'' is an epistolary novel by English writer Samuel Richardson, published in 1748. It tells the tragic story of a young woman, Clarissa Harlowe, whose quest for virtue is continually thwarted by her family. The Harlowes are a recently wealthy family whose preoccupation with increasing their standing in society leads to obsessive control of their daughter, Clarissa. It is considered one of the longest novels in the English language (based on estimated word count). It is generally regarded as Richardson's masterpiece. In 2015, the BBC ranked ''Clarissa'' 14th on its list of the 100 greatest British novels. In 2013 ''The Guardian'' included ''Clarissa'' among the 100 best novels written in English. Plot summary Robert Lovelace, a wealthy "libertine" and ...
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