Thomas Richmond (1802-1874) was a British portrait painter, known for his idealised pictures in the so-called Keepsake style. He was the son of Thomas Richmond (1771–1837), the miniature painter, and the brother of George Richmond.[1]
Richmond initially practiced in Sheffield, and later moved to London. His main clientele was among the hunting fraternity. Between 1833 and 1860 he exhibited fifty one portraits in London.[2] He exhibited forty-five portraits at the Royal Academy and six at the Suffolk Street gallery.[1] Richmond's paintings are close in style to his father's work, but distinguished by the characteristic use of dark stippling in the background.[3] His paintings were criticised for their overly idealised and sugary presentations of subjects, especially women. When John Ruskin's father commissioned Richmond to paint his daughter-in-law Effie Gray, Effie wrote of the finished work to her mother:
Richmond and his brother George had met Ruskin during his trip to Rome in 1840-1. He accompanied him on his visits to galleries. Ruskin's father was not as delighted with the portrait of Effie as she believed. He wrote to his son that "Tom I regret to say cannot hold a candle to George - It is second rate or lower".[2]
Richmond died in 1874 at Windermere, where he had purchased an estate, but was buried in Brompton cemetery, London. [1]