George Engleheart

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

George Engleheart, 1750-1829, Portrait John Dyer Collier, About 1785, Watercolour on ivory V&A Museum no. P.76-1910 ^[1] Victoria and Albert Museum, London

George Engleheart (born in October 1752 at Kew; died 1829 in Blackheath), English portrait miniature painter and great rival of Richard Cosway.

He received his artistic training first under George Barret, R.A., and then under Sir Joshua Reynolds. He started on his own account in 1773, and exhibited in that year at the Royal Academy. He continued the active pursuit of his profession down to 1813, when he retired, and his fee-book, still in existence, records the names of his sitters, and the amount paid for each portrait, proving that he painted 4853 miniatures during that period of thirty-nine years, and that his professional income for many years exceeded 1200 a year. During the greater part of his life he resided in Hertford Street, Mayfair, where he lived until he retired. He died at Blackheath in 1829, and was buried at Kew.

He painted George III twenty-five times, and had a very extensive circle of patrons, comprising nearly all the important persons connected with the court. He made careful copies in miniature of many of the famous paintings executed by Sir Joshua Reynolds, and in some cases these constitute the only information we possess respecting portraits by Sir Joshua that are now missing. His fee-book, colors, appliances and a large collection of his miniatures still remain in the possession of his descendants.

His works are often signed "E" or "G.E".