Joseph Collyer (14 September 1748 – 24 December 1827), also called Joseph Collyer the Younger, was a British engraver. He was an associate of 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 portrait engraver to the British Queen Consort,

Queen Charlotte Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (Sophia Charlotte; 19 May 1744 – 17 November 1818) was Queen of Great Britain and of Ireland as the wife of King George III from their marriage on 8 September 1761 until the union of the two kingdoms ...

Life and work

Collyer, the younger, was born in

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 ...

, the son of Joseph Collyer (d. 1776), editor and translator, and

Mary Collyer Mary Collyer (née Mitchell) (c. 1716 – 1763) was an English translator and novelist. Life Mary, whose maiden name was Mitchell, married Joseph Collyer the elder; their son, Joseph Collyer the younger, was an engraver, and illustrated one edi ...

(née Mitchell, d. 1763), translator and novelist. He studied for a short time under the engraver Anthony Walker, and applied himself to book illustrations with success. He attracted the notice of

John Boydell John Boydell (; 19 January 1720 (New Style) – 12 December 1804) was a British publisher noted for his reproductions of engravings. He helped alter the trade imbalance between Britain and France in engravings and initiated a British tradition i ...

and was employed to make an engraving after David Teniers. In 1761 he was awarded a premium from the

Society of Arts The Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA), also known as the Royal Society of Arts, is a London-based organisation committed to finding practical solutions to social challenges. The RSA acronym is used m ...

; about nine years later he entered the

, where he exhibited for the first time in 1770. He was admitted as a student in 1771. Sir

Joshua Reynolds Sir Joshua Reynolds (16 July 1723 – 23 February 1792) was an English painter, specialising in portraits. John Russell said he was one of the major European painters of the 18th century. He promoted the "Grand Style" in painting which depend ...

allowed Collyer to reproduce two of his paintings, "Venus" and "Una", as chalk engravings (a type of

stipple engraving Stipple engraving is a technique used to create tone in an intaglio print by distributing a pattern of dots of various sizes and densities across the image. The pattern is created on the printing plate either in engraving by gouging out the dots ...

). He engraved some large plates including, 'The Volunteers of Ireland' after Francis Wheatley, published in 1784. In 1786 he was elected an associate engraver of the Royal Academy, and appointed portrait engraver to Queen Charlotte. In 1815 he was master warden of the

Stationers' Company The Worshipful Company of Stationers and Newspaper Makers (until 1937 the Worshipful Company of Stationers), usually known as the Stationers' Company, is one of the livery companies of the City of London. The Stationers' Company was formed in ...

. Among his engraved portraits may be mentioned those of the

Princess of Wales Princess of Wales (Welsh: ''Tywysoges Cymru'') is a courtesy title used since the 14th century by the wife of the heir apparent to the English and later British throne. The current title-holder is Catherine (née Middleton). The title was firs ...

and the

Princess Charlotte Princess Charlotte may refer to: People * Charlotte Christine of Brunswick-Lüneburg (1694–1715), wife of Tsarevich Alexei Petrovich of Russia and mother of Tsar Peter II, Emperor of Russia * Charlotte Aglaé d'Orléans (1700–1761), wife of ...

(1799); George, Duke of Montagu (1793); Sir Charles Grey, K.B. (1797); Sir

Joseph Banks Sir Joseph Banks, 1st Baronet, (19 June 1820) was an English naturalist, botanist, and patron of the natural sciences. Banks made his name on the 1766 natural-history expedition to Newfoundland and Labrador. He took part in Captain James ...

(1789); Qian Long, emperor of China (1796);

Thomas Newton Thomas Newton (1 January 1704 – 14 February 1782) was an English cleric, biblical scholar and author. He served as the Bishop of Bristol from 1761 to 1782. Biography Newton was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge and was subsequently elect ...

, Bishop of Bristol;

Mary Palmer Mary Palmer (née Reynolds; 9 February 1716 – 27 May 1794) was a British author from Devon who wrote ''Devonshire Dialogue'', once considered the "best piece of literature in the vernacular of Devon." She was the mother of painter Theophil ...

(1785); Miss Palmer
(1785, engraving after Joshua Reynolds). William Whitehead (1787); Paul Whitehead (1776); and Sir

William Young William, Will, Bill or Billy Young may refer to: Arts and entertainment * William Young (composer) (died 1662), English composer and viola da gambist * William Young (architect) (1843–1900), Scottish architect, designer of Glasgow City Chambers ...

. Collyer also engraved the illustrations to Hervey's Naval History'',' besides several plates after Rooker. He last exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1822, and died on 24 December 1827. Engraver James Heath was one of his apprentices.

References

External links

Biography
(Geoff's Genealogy)
Portrait engravings by Collyer
(

National Portrait Gallery, London The National Portrait Gallery (NPG) is an art gallery in London housing a collection of portraits of historically important and famous British people. It was arguably the first national public gallery dedicated to portraits in the world when it ...

)
Scene from Shakespeare's "King Henry the Eighth"
(1796, engraving after William Peters (painter) - artoftheprint.com)
Sir Charles Grey, K.B
(1797, engraving after

Thomas Lawrence Sir Thomas Lawrence (13 April 1769 – 7 January 1830) was an English portrait painter and the fourth president of the Royal Academy. A child prodigy, he was born in Bristol and began drawing in Devizes, where his father was an innkeeper at t ...

)
Felina
(1790, stipple engraving after Joshua Reynolds - Donald A. Heald ) {{DEFAULTSORT:Collyer, Joseph English engravers 1748 births 1827 deaths Associates of the Royal Academy