William Peters (painter)

Matthew William Peters (1742 – 20 March 1814) was an English portrait and genre painter who later became an Anglican clergyman and chaplain to George IV. He became known as "William" when he started signing his works as "W. Peters".^[1]

Life

Peters was born in Freshwater, Isle of Wight, the son of Matthew Peters (born at Belfast, 1711), a civil engineer and member of the Royal Dublin Society; by Elizabeth, the eldest daughter of George Younge of Dublin. The family moved from England to Dublin when Peters was young, where his father "advised on the improvement of loughs and rivers for navigation".^[1] and published two treatises on the subject.

Peters received his artistic training from Robert West in Dublin; in 1756 and 1758 he received prizes from the first School of Design in Dublin. In 1759, he was sent by the Dublin Society to

On 27 February 1769, Peters became a freemason, and he was made the grand portrait painter of the Freemasons and the first provincial grand master of Lincolnshire in 1792. In 1785, he exhibited portraits of the Duke of Manchester and Lord Petre as Grand Master at the Royal Academy exhibition.^[1]

According to Robin Simon's article in the

In 1784, Peters was awarded the living of

Woolsthorpe. These livings were near to Belvoir Castle, at which he was curator of pictures. He became prebendary of Lincoln Cathedral in 1795, first with the stall of St Mary, Crackpool, but later with the better position of Langford Ecclesia, Oxfordshire. That same year he also acquired the living at Eaton. He lived at Woolsthorpe, Knipton, and Langford. After 1800, Masonic disputes forced Peters to live almost exclusively at Langford.^[1][2]

During these years, Peters also painted religious works, including a ten-by-five foot Annunciation for Lincoln Cathedral and The Resurrection of a Pious Family. He also painted five Shakespearean works for the

guineas for painting full-length portraits.^[1]

On 28 April 1790 he and Margaret Susannah Knowsley were married; the couple had five children.[1]

Peters died in Kent on 20 March 1814.

Notes

1. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k} Simon, Robin. "Matthew William Peters".
2. ^ ^{a b} "Peters, William (1781–1815) (CCEd Person ID 72495)". The Clergy of the Church of England Database 1540–1835. Retrieved 2 February 2014.

References

• Simon, Robin. "(Matthew) William Peters".
  doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/22026
  . Retrieved on 2 February 2008.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to William Peters (painter).

• 15 artworks by or after William Peters at the Art UK site