Robert Strange (engraver)

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Sir Robert Strange (14 July 1721 – 5 July 1792) was a Scottish

George III
.

Robert Strange, 1750 portrait by Joseph Samuel Webster

Early life

The eldest son of David Strang of Kirkwall in Orkney, by his second wife Jean, daughter of Malcolm Scollay of Hunton, he was born at Kirkwall on 14 July 1721. He entered the office of a brother, a lawyer in Edinburgh. He then was apprenticed to Richard Cooper, the elder, an engraver, for six years.[1]

Strange fought in the

Young Pretender's lifeguards; and was in hiding for some months after the Battle of Culloden.[1]

Voluntary exile

After the amnesty Strange went to London and, carrying with him the Prince's seal, which had been left behind in Scotland, to Rouen, a centre of exiled Jacobites. There he studied anatomy under Claude-Nicolas Le Cat, and drawing under Jean-Baptiste Descamps. In 1749 he moved to Paris and placed himself under the engraver Jacques-Philippe Le Bas. There he learned drypoint and returned in 1750 to London.[1]

After a period of dealing in prints and working in London as engraver, Strange fell out with potential patrons at court, including

Lord Bute. Princess Augusta of Saxe-Gotha wished an engraving to be made of a portrait of Frederick, Prince of Wales, her late husband, by Allan Ramsay, and one of Bute. Strange found the price too low, and refused the commission via William Chambers; it was taken up in 1758 by William Wynne Ryland who rose in royal favour under George III.[2][3]

Strange went to Italy in 1760. His connections afforded him a passport for travel in France—this was the height of the

Academy of St. Luke in Rome.[4] He encountered Richard Dalton on a mission to copy Italian artworks that overlapped with his own plans, and a future rival in Francesco Bartolozzi. He returned to England in 1765, with an international reputation as engraver already established.[2]

Later life

Back in London, Strange exhibited pictures which he had collected, and prepared critical and descriptive catalogues. In 1768, troubles in the

Royal Academy. Strange opposed those breaking away, and he came to believe that the exclusion from the academy of engravers was levelled against himself. His rival Francesco Bartolozzi was elected, ostensibly as a painter. With other engravers (William Sharp, John Hall, and William Woollett), Strange declined associate membership. In 1775 he published on his grievances in An Inquiry into the Rise and Establishment of the Royal Academy of Arts. He then took his family over to Paris, where they remained in the Rue d'Enfer until 1780.[1]

Strange wished to engrave

Queen Henrietta Maria, which belonged to George III. He obtained access to the picture via Benjamin West, a friend, and the print was published. in Paris in 1784, along with one of the Vandyck of Charles I on his horse. He was received by Louis XVIII and Marie Antoinette. Then he engraved West's picture of The Apotheosis of the Royal Children, finishing in 1786, and on 5 January 1787 was knighted by George III.[1]

Death

Memorial plaque to Robert Strange at St Paul's, Covent Garden

Strange died at his house, No. 52 Great Queen Street,

St. Paul's, Covent Garden. Besides Strange's portrait by Greuze, there is a portrait by Romney and one by Raeburn.[1]

Works

Strange published a portrait of the Young Pretender at the time of the 1745 rebellion. In France he engraved

Bruce of Kinnaird, he engraved the illustrations for Bruce's work on Pæstum, but this was never published. Classical portraits in Thomas Blackwell's History of the Court of Augustus, assumed to be his, are unsigned and not otherwise authenticated.[1]

Technically, Strange habitually employed drypoint, and was followed by

atlas folio, with a dedication to the king (composed mainly by Blair), and published in 1790, with a portrait after Jean-Baptiste Greuze, and an introduction describing the progress of engraving. Apart from Van Dyck, he chose mainly Italian masters.[1]

Family

Shortly before the Jacobite rising of 1745 Strange fell in love with Isabella, daughter of William Lumisden (who was son of Andrew Lumsden) and sister of Andrew Lumisden, a strong Jacobite supporter. In 1747 they were married clandestinely. Isabella's letters were published by James Dennistoun. She died in 1806.[1]

Of Strange's children, his eldest daughter Mary Bruce Strange (1748–1784) was artistic. His eldest son was James Charles Stuart Strange (1753–1840), a Member of Parliament.[5] Strange's second son was Thomas Andrew Lumisden Strange. A third son, Robert Montagu, was major-general in the Madras army.[1]

Gallery

  • Robert Strange, engraving by the artist himself after Jean-Baptiste Greuze
    Robert Strange, engraving by the artist himself after Jean-Baptiste Greuze
  • Charles Edward Stuart, the Young Pretender, 1745 engraving by Robert Strange
    Charles Edward Stuart, the Young Pretender, 1745 engraving by Robert Strange
  • Cleopatra, by Robert Strange (after Guido Reni), 1777
    Cleopatra, by Robert Strange (after Guido Reni), 1777

Notes

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Lee, Sidney, ed. (1898). "Strange, Robert" . Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 55. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
  2. ^ required.)
  3. required.)
  4. National Galleries of Scotland
    , Edinburgh, p. 28
  5. ^ Strange, James Charles Stuart (1753-1840), of Hertford Street, Mayfair, Mdx.
Attribution

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domainLee, Sidney, ed. (1898). "Strange, Robert". Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 55. London: Smith, Elder & Co.