John Laporte (March 1761 – 8 July 1839) was an English landscape painter and

etcher Etching is traditionally the process of using strong acid or mordant to cut into the unprotected parts of a metal surface to create a design in intaglio (incised) in the metal. In modern manufacturing, other chemicals may be used on other types ...

, who worked in and around

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, England.

Life and work

Laporte was born into a family of French Huguenot origins, possibly in London or in Ireland, and studied art under the Irish-born Huguenot painter John Melchior Barralet, either in London or Dublin. He became a drawing-master at the Addiscombe Military Seminary, Surrey. He was also a successful private teacher, and Dr. Thomas Monro (the patron of

J M W Turner Joseph Mallord William Turner (23 April 177519 December 1851), known in his time as William Turner, was an English Romantic painter, printmaker and watercolourist. He is known for his expressive colouring, imaginative landscapes and turbule ...

amongst others), was one of his pupils. From 1785 he contributed landscapes to the

Royal Academy 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 pur ...

and

British Institution The British Institution (in full, the British Institution for Promoting the Fine Arts in the United Kingdom; founded 1805, disbanded 1867) was a private 19th-century society in London formed to exhibit the works of living and dead artists; it w ...

exhibitions in London, and was an original member of the short-lived society called 'The Associated Artists in Watercolours,' from which he retired in 1811. He also painted in

oils An oil is any nonpolar chemical substance that is composed primarily of hydrocarbons and is hydrophobic (does not mix with water) & lipophilic (mixes with other oils). Oils are usually flammable and surface active. Most oils are unsaturated ...

.''Dictionary of National Biography'' 1885-1900 Laporte published: ''Characters of Trees'' (1798–1801), ''Progressive Lessons sketched from Nature'' (1804), and ''The Progress of a Water-colour Drawing.'' Between 1801 and 1805 he and his collaborator

William F. Wells William Firth Wells (c. 1886 - 9 September 1963) was an American scientist and sanitary engineer. In his early career, he pioneered techniques for the aquaculture of oysters and clams. He is best known for his work on airborne infections. Wells iden ...

made seventy-two soft-ground etchings after drawings by

Thomas Gainsborough Thomas Gainsborough (14 May 1727 (baptised) – 2 August 1788) was an English portrait and landscape painter, draughtsman, and printmaker. Along with his rival Sir Joshua Reynolds, he is considered one of the most important British artists of ...

(thirty-three by Laporte, the remainder by Wells). They initially issued these etchings as individual plates, upon completion of each (thus bearing publication dates ranging from 1802 to 1805), and then as hand-coloured and bound sets under the title ''A Collection of Prints, illustrative of English Scenery, from the Drawings and Sketches of Gainsborough'' (''circa'' 1805; reissued in 1819 by the publisher H.R. Young but with only around sixty-two plates and the original publication dates removed from these). Laporte's ''Perdita discovered by the Old Shepherd'' was engraved by Bartolozzi, and his ''Millbank on the River Thames'' by

Francis Jukes Francis Jukes (1745–1812) was a prolific engraver and publisher, chiefly known for his topographical and shipping prints, the majority in aquatint. He worked alongside the great illustrators of the late eighteenth century. He contributed numerou ...

.See als
Millbank on the River Thames
/ref> Laporte died in London on 8 July 1839, aged 78.

Family

Laporte's daughter, Miss M. A. Laporte, exhibited portraits and fancy subjects at the Academy and the British Institution from 1813 to 1822; in 1835 she was elected a member of the Institute of Painters in Watercolours, but withdrew in 1846. His son, George Henry Laporte, was also an artist, who held the appointment of animal painter to the

King of Hanover The King of Hanover (German: ''König von Hannover'') was the official title of the head of state and hereditary ruler of the Kingdom of Hanover, beginning with the proclamation of King George III of the United Kingdom, as "King of Hanover" dur ...

Bibliography

*Laporte, John & Ibbetson, J. C. & Hassell, John.
A Picturesque guide to Bath, Bristol Hot-Wells, the River Avon and the adjacent Country
' (1793) *Laporte's Progress: The Life & Work of John Laporte by John Ramm ntique Dealer & Collectors Guide, September 1996, Vol 50, 2

Notes

References

* *'Laporte's Progress' by John Ramm (Antique Dealer & Collectors Guide, Sep 1996, Vol 50, No. 2) *'John Laporte' by Basil Long (Walker's Quarterly, July 1922) https://archive.org/details/johnlaportelands00long/page/n5/mode/2up *'Understanding Watercolours' by Huon Mallalieu (Antique Collectors' Club, 1985)

External links

John Laporte online
(ArtCyclopedia)
Works by Laporte
(

Tate gallery Tate is an institution that houses, in a network of four art galleries, the United Kingdom's national collection of British art, and international modern and contemporary art. It is not a government institution, but its main sponsor is the U ...

) * {{DEFAULTSORT:Laporte, John 18th-century English painters English male painters 19th-century English painters English illustrators Landscape artists English watercolourists English etchers 1839 deaths 1761 births Painters from London 19th-century English male artists 18th-century English male artists