Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Collins, Richard (1755-1831)
COLLINS, RICHARD (1755–1831), miniature-painter, a native of Hampshire, was born on 30 Jan. 1755. He studied enamel-painting under Jeremiah Meyer, R.A. [q. v.], and soon attained a very high position as a miniature-painter. His miniatures were painted both on enamel and on ivory. He first exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1777, and continued to contribute miniatures regularly for about thirty years; he exhibited for the last time in 1818. He shared with Richard Cosway and Samuel Shelley the fashionable sitters of the day, and in 1789 was appointed principal portrait-painter in enamel to George III. He executed some fine miniature portraits of the royal family. Having acquired a comfortable income by his art, he quitted London in 1811, and retired into private life at Pershore, Worcestershire, resigning his post in the royal service. About 1828, however, the love of art and culture led Collins to return to London, and he resided in the vicinity of Regent's Park until his death on 5 Aug. 1831, in his seventy-seventh year.
[Redgrave's Dict. of English Artists; Arnold's Library of the Fine Arts, vol. ii.; Cat. of the Special Exhibition of Portrait Miniatures, 1865; Royal Academy Catalogues.]