Samuel William Reynolds
Samuel William Reynolds | |
|---|---|
 Samuel William Reynolds self-portrait | |
| Born | July 4, 1773 |
| Died | August 13, 1835 (aged 62) |
Samuel William Reynolds (4 July 1773 – 13 August 1835)
Biography
Reynolds was born on 4 July 1773. His father was born in the West Indies, the son of a planter, but, being sent in his youth to England for education, settled there permanently, and married Reynolds' mother, Sarah Hunt.
Reynolds studied in the schools of the Royal Academy, and under the mezzotint engravers Charles Howard Hodges[2] and John Raphael Smith.[3] His earliest dated mezzotint is a portrait of George, Prince of Wales, from May 1794.[4]
In 1797 he engraved a plate of The Relief of Prince Adolphus and Marshal Freytag after
He also engraved a large number of portraits and compositions by Dance, Jackson, William Owen (1769–1825), Stephanoff, Bonington, Gregor MacGregor, Sir Robert Ker Porter, and others, and was one of the artists employed by J. M. W. Turner on his Liber Studiorum.[3] Reynolds worked with great rapidity,[3] often combining etching, aquatint and stipple engraving techniques with the mezzotint.[5]
Early in life Reynolds secured for himself and his family the friendship and patronage of Samuel Whitbread, and, through his connection with Drury Lane Theatre, became intimate with Thomas Sheridan and Edmund Kean. He frequently visited the theatre to assist the latter in making up his face for the part of Othello.[3]
He was employed as drawing-master to the
In 1809, Reynolds paid his first visit to
Reynolds executed a considerable number of plates in France, including The Raft of the Medusa, after
Reynolds began a large plate from
He died of paralysis at Ivy Cottage, Bayswater, London, where he had lived for many years, on 13 August 1835. His collections, which consisted chiefly of his own drawings and engravings, were sold at Christie's in the following April. By his wife, Jane Cowen, to whom he was married in 1793, and who survived him some years, enjoying an annuity from the Whitbread family. Reynolds had two sons and three daughters.
His elder son of the same name,
A small portrait of Reynolds, etched by Edward Bell, was published by A. E. Evans in 1855. Another portrait was painted by his friend Ary Scheffer. In a humorous watercolour drawing by A. E. Chalon, representing artists at work in the gallery of the British Institution in 1805, Reynolds, seated at his easel, is a prominent figure. A portrait of his wife was painted by John Opie.[3]
References
- ^ Royal Academy of Arts Collections
- ^ Whitman, p.1; an early mezzotint is inscribed "Engraved by S.W. Reynolds, late pupil to C.H. Hodges."
- ^ a b c d e f g h "Reynolds, Samuel William". Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.
- ^ Whitman, p.1
- ^ Whitman, pp.4–5
- ^ Charles Robert Leslie. Memoirs of the life of John Constable, esq., R.A., composed chiefly of his letters (London, Longman, Brown, Green and Longmans, 1845) p. 154.
Sources
- Whitman, Alfred Charles (1903). Samuel William Reynolds. Nineteenth Century Mezzotinters. London: George Bell and Sons.
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