Editing Richard Cosway

{{Short description|English painter (1742–1821)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2019}}
{{Infobox artist
| name          = Richard Cosway
| image         = Cosway, Self-portrait.jpg
| caption       = Self-portrait in [[portrait miniature|miniature]], {{circa|1770}}
| birth_date    = {{Birth date|1742|11|5|df=yes}}
| birth_place   = [[Tiverton, Devon|Tiverton]], England
| death_date    = {{Death date and age|1821|7|4|1742|11|5|df=yes}}
| death_place   = [[London]], England
| known_for     = Painter of [[portrait miniature]]s
| spouse        = {{marriage|[[Maria Cosway]]|1781}}
| training      = {{ubl|[[Thomas Hudson (painter)|Thomas Hudson]]|[[William Shipley]]}}
| movement      =
| notable_works =
| patrons       =
| awards        = 
}}

'''Richard Cosway''' {{Post-nominals|post-noms=[[List of Royal Academicians|RA]]}} (5 November 1742 &ndash; 4 July 1821) was a leading [[England|English]] [[portrait]] painter of the [[Georgian era|Georgian]] and [[Regency era]], noted for his [[Portrait miniature|miniatures]]. He was a contemporary of [[John Smart]], [[George Engleheart]], William Wood, and [[Richard Crosse (painter)|Richard Crosse]]. He befriended fellow [[Freemasonry|Freemason]] and [[Swedenborg]]ians [[William Blake]] and [[Chevalier d'Éon]]. His wife was the Italian-born painter [[Maria Cosway]], a close friend of [[Thomas Jefferson]].

==Early years==
Richard Cosway was born in [[Tiverton, Devon|Tiverton]], [[Devon]], the son of a schoolmaster. He was initially educated at [[Blundell's School]], where his father was [[Head teacher|master]], but at the age of twelve he was allowed to travel to [[London]] to take lessons in painting. Soon after his arrival, in 1754, he won a prize from the [[Royal Society of Arts|Society of Arts]]. He studied briefly with fellow Devonian [[Thomas Hudson (painter)|Thomas Hudson]], then with [[William Shipley]], and by 1760 had established his own business.{{sfn|Williamson|1911}} He exhibited his first works at the age of 20 in 1762 and was soon in demand.

He was one of the first group of associate members of the Royal Academy, elected in August 1770, and was elected a full member the following March, on the casting vote of the academy's president, Sir [[Joshua Reynolds]].<ref>[[John Evan Hodgson]] and [[Frederick Alexis Eaton]], ''The Royal Academy and its Members 1768-1830.'' London: John Murray, 1905; pg. 113.</ref> He is included in [[Johan Zoffany]]'s group portrait of the members of the academy (begun in 1771); a late addition to the composition, he was painted on an extra strip of canvas, attached to the right-hand side of the painting.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.royalacademy.org.uk/ra-magazine/spring-2012/johan-zoffany-finding-the-founders,342,RAMA.html |title=Johan Zoffany: Finding the founders |publisher=RA Magazine |access-date=30 August 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121108210831/http://www.royalacademy.org.uk/ra-magazine/spring-2012/johan-zoffany-finding-the-founders%2C342%2CRAMA.html |archive-date=8 November 2012 }}</ref>

==Career in art==
He painted the future King [[George IV of the United Kingdom|George IV]] in 1780 and was appointed Painter to the [[Prince of Wales]]<ref name="napoleon">{{cite news | title = How England first saw Bonaparte: a painting by Francesco Cossia commissioned by Maria Cosway in 1797 was the first true portrait of Napoleon to be seen in England. It was acquired by Sir John Soane, who, as Xavier F. Salomon and Christopher Woodward explain, juxtaposed it with a miniature by Isabey in a graphic comparison of the youthful hero with the tyrannical dicatator  | url = http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0PAL/is_524_162/ai_n15930846/pg_1 | publisher = Apollo | access-date = 2007-08-01 }} {{Dead link|date=September 2010|bot=RjwilmsiBot}}</ref> in 1785&mdash;the only time this title was ever awarded. His subjects included the Prince's first wife, [[Maria Anne Fitzherbert]], and various English and [[France|French]] aristocrats, including [[Madame du Barry]], mistress of King [[Louis XV of France]].

Cosway's pupils included [[Andrew Plimer]] (1763–1837).

From 1995 to 1996, the [[National Portrait Gallery (United Kingdom)|National Portrait Gallery]] in London held an exhibition entitled ''Richard and Maria Cosway: Regency Artists of Taste and Fashion'', with 250 works on display.<ref name="antiques">{{cite news | title = An artistic alliance - Richard and Maria Cosway - English artists | url = http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1026/is_n6_v148/ai_17776997 | publisher = Magazine Antiques |date= December 1995| access-date = 2007-08-01 }} {{Dead link|date=September 2010|bot=H3llBot}}</ref>

==Personal life==
[[File:A smuggling machine or a convenient Cos(au)way for a man in miniature.jpg|thumbnail|''A SMUGGLING MACHINE or a Convenient Cos(au)way for a Man in Miniature''. A 1782 etching satirising the relationship between Cosway and his wife. Published by [[Hannah Humphrey]].<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=1457164&partId=1 | title=A smuggling machine or a convenient Cos(au)way for a man in miniature}}</ref>]]
On 18 January 1781, Cosway married the Anglo-[[Italy|Italian]] artist [[Maria Cosway|Maria Hadfield]].  Maria was a composer, musician and authority on [[girls' education]] and was much admired by [[Thomas Jefferson]], who wrote letters to her decrying her marriage to another man and kept an engraving made from one of Cosway's paintings of Maria at [[Monticello]].<ref name="monticello">{{cite news | title = Thomas Jefferson's Engraving of Maria Cosway | author = DeMauri, Stephen | date = December 2003 | url = http://www.monticello.org/highlights/cosway.html | publisher = Monticello Foundation | access-date = 2007-08-01 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070713233417/http://www.monticello.org/highlights/cosway.html <!-- Bot retrieved archive --> |archive-date = 2007-07-13}}</ref>

The Cosways' marriage is thought to be an [[arranged marriage]] of convenience, and not only due to his being 20 years her senior.<ref name="antiques"/><ref name="monticello"/> Richard Cosway was an effeminate [[Macaroni (fashion)|Macaroni]] with "a mincing, affected air" dressed in the height of fashion: "His small plain person was to be seen in all the public places clothed in a mulberry silk coated embroidered with scarlet strawberries, with a sword and bag and small three-cornered hat perched on the top of his powdered toupée."<ref>The Shilling Magazine, quoted in Weekly Dispatch (London), 18 March 1866, p38. [https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0003358/18660318/213/0038]</ref> It was also said he was "well known as a libertine and commonly described as resembling a monkey."<ref name="amheritage">{{cite web|title=JEFFERSON'S PARIS |url=http://www.americanheritage.com/articles/magazine/ah/1995/2/1995_2_108.shtml |publisher=American Heritage Archived at Internet Archive |access-date=2007-08-01 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070929121028/http://www.americanheritage.com/articles/magazine/ah/1995/2/1995_2_108.shtml |archive-date=September 29, 2007 }}</ref>

In 1784, the Cosways moved into [[Schomberg House]], [[Pall Mall, London|Pall Mall]], which became a fashionable salon for London society.<ref name="napoleon"/> They employed the former slave [[Ottobah Cugoano]] as a servant.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Sons of Africa |url=https://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofBritain/Sons-Of-Africa/ |last=Brain |first=Jessica |website=Historic UK |date=July 28, 2021 |access-date=February 21, 2025}}</ref> In 1791 they moved to a larger house in [[Stratford Place]]. In 1821, after selling most of the treasures he had accumulated, he went to reside in [[Edgware Road]].{{sfn|Williamson|1911}} 

In later life, Cosway also suffered from mental disorders and spent some time in various institutions. He died in [[London]] in 1821 and was buried at [[St Marylebone Parish Church]]. [[Sir John Soane]] bought more than 30 objects put up for sale at auction after Cosway's death.<ref name="napoleon"/>

Cosway's wife Maria survived him many years, and died in Italy in January 1838, in a school for girls which she had founded, and which she had attached to an important religious order devoted to the cause of female education, known as the {{lang|it|Dame Inglesi}}. She had been created a baroness of the Empire on account of her devotion to female education by the emperor [[Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor|Francis I]] in 1834.{{sfn|Williamson|1911}}

==Examples of Cosway's work==
<gallery perrow="3">
File:Richard Cosway by Richard Cosway.jpg|Self-Portrait of Richard Cosway - [[National Portrait Gallery (London)|National Portrait Gallery, London]]
File:Arthur Wellesley1808, by Richard Cosway.jpg|Portrait of [[Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington|Arthur Wellesley]], later Duke of Wellington, Dated 1808, by Richard Cosway, RA, 1742–1821, Watercolour on ivory V&A Museum no. P.6-1941 [[Victoria and Albert Museum]]

File:Richard Cosway - Portrait of an Armenian - Google Art Project.jpg|Portrait of an [[Armenians|Armenian]]
File:John Braham with Harriet Abrams and her two daughters, Harriet and Theodosia Abrams.jpg|John Braham with Harriet Abrams and her two daughters, [[Harriett Abrams]] and [[Theodosia Abrams]]
File:Self-Portrait in Elizabethan Costume P6052.jpg|Self-Portrait in Elizabethan Costume, circa 1790
</gallery>

==References==
{{reflist|2}}

==Further reading==
* Gerald Barnett, ''Richard and Maria Cosway: A Biography.'' Tiverton, Devon, UK: Westcountry Books, 1995.
* Philippe Bordes, "Richard and Maria Cosway, Edinburgh," ''Burlington Magazine,'' vol. 137, no. 1111 (Oct. 1995), pp.&nbsp;700–702. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/886720 In JSTOR].
* [[Daphne Foskett]], ''Miniatures: Dictionary and Guide.'' London: Antique Collectors' Club, 1987.
* Duncan MacMillan, "The Cosways," ''RSA Journal,'' vol. 143, no. 5464 (Nov. 1995), pp.&nbsp;65–66. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/41376910 In JSTOR].
* "Richard Cosway, 'The Macaroni Miniature Painter,'" ''The Art Amateur,'' vol. 8, no. 2 (Jan. 1883), pg. 38. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/25627814 In JSTOR].
*{{cite EB1911|wstitle=Cosway, Richard|volume=7|page=248|first=George Charles|last=Williamson|author-link=G. C. Williamson}}
*{{cite DNB|wstitle=Cosway, Richard|volume=12|first=Louis Alexander|last= Fagan }}
*{{cite ODNB|first=Stephen|last= Lloyd|title=Cosway, Richard (bap. 1742, d. 1821)|id=6383}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Richard Cosway}}
* {{Art UK bio}}
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20110122003708/http://www.vam.ac.uk/collections/paintings/miniatures/artists/cosway/index.html Victoria and Albert Museum miniatures gallery]
*[http://www.marquesdecollections.fr/detail.cfm/marque/6331 Frits Lugt, Les marques de collections de dessins & d'estampes, 1921 and its Supplement 1956, L.628 and L.629, online edition]
*[http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:FHCL.HOUGH:5110417 A catalogue of the very curious, extensive, and valuable library of Richard Cosway, Esq. R.A], digital facsimile from [[Houghton Library]], Harvard University.

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cosway, Richard}}
[[Category:1742 births]]
[[Category:1821 deaths]]
[[Category:18th-century English painters]]
[[Category:19th-century English painters]]
[[Category:18th-century English male artists]]
[[Category:19th-century English male artists]]
[[Category:English male painters]]
[[Category:English portrait miniaturists]]
[[Category:Royal Academicians]]
[[Category:People educated at Blundell's School]]
[[Category:People from Tiverton, Devon]]
[[Category:Regency era]]
[[Category:Burials at St Marylebone Parish Church]]