GREAT ARTISTS 1876 Lawrence, West, Reynolds, Wilkie, Shee ANTIQUE ENGRAVING

Original 1876 11 3/4 inch x 8 3/4 inch Steel Engraving of five famous artists

• SIR THOMAS LAWRENCE (1769 - 1830). Sir Thomas Lawrence was a child prodigy who became the leading British portrait painter of his generation and was elected President of the Royal Academy in 1820.
• BENJAMIN WEST (1738 - 1820). History painter. Born in Pennsylvania he went to Rome in 1760 and spent three years copying masterpieces by Titian, Raphael and others before arriving in London in 1763, where he remained, becoming President of the Royal Academy.
• SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS (1723 - 1792). Portrait and history painter; the dominant artistic personality of the age of George III. Founder and first President of the Royal Academy of Arts in 1768.
• SIR DAVID WILKIE (1785 - 1841). Sir David Wilkie RA was a Scottish painter, especially known for his genre scenes. He painted successfully in a wide variety of genres, including historical scenes, portraits, including formal royal ones, and scenes from his travels to Europe and the Middle East. His main base was in London, but he died and was buried at sea, off Gibraltar, returning from his first trip to the Middle East. He was sometimes known as the "people's painter".
• SIR MARTIN ARCHER SHEE (1769 - 1850). Irish portrait painter and writer on art, active from 1788 in London. There he became second only to Lawrence as the leading society portraitist, and in 1830 he succeeded him as president of the Royal Academy, which he guided through a difficult period when it was under attack from Haydon and other disaffected artists.

From ‘The Royal History of England from the Earliest Period to the Present Time’ by Henry Tyrrell, W.C. Staffordf and John Sherer, Published in 1876 by J.G. Murdoch, 41, Castle Street, Holborn, London.

The engraving is in very good condition with minor warping. Reverse side blank.