Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Meyer, Henry
MEYER, HENRY (1782?–1847), portrait-painter and engraver, was born in London about 1782. He was a nephew of John Hoppner [q. v.], and a pupil of Francesco Bartolozzi [q. v.], in whose dotted manner many of his plates are engraved. He worked also in mezzotint, and painted a considerable number of portraits, both in oil and in water-colours, of which he exhibited twelve at the Royal Academy between 1821 and 1826. He was one of the foundation members of the Society of British Artists, and to the first exhibition in 1824 he sent eight portraits, two sketches in chalk, and no less than forty-three engravings. In 1826 he exhibited a portrait of Charles Lamb, and in 1831 one of Benjamin Webster the actor. He became president of the society in 1828, but retired from it in the following year, and ceased to exhibit after 1833. In the later years of his career he devoted much attention to drawing portraits, and was very successful in his likenesses. He died on 28 May 1847, in his sixty-fifth year.
Meyer's engraved works consist chiefly of portraits, and include those of George IV; Prince Leopold, afterwards king of the Belgians, and the Princess Charlotte, full-lengths after A. E. Chalon, R.A.; Frederick William, duke of Brunswick, after J. P. Zahn; Admiral Viscount Nelson, and Earl Cathcart, after J. Hoppner, R.A.; Admiral Viscount Exmouth, after S. Drummond, A.R.A.; the Marquis of Wellesley, after a miniature by A. Robertson; Lady Leicester, afterwards Lady de Tabley, as ‘Hope,’ after Sir Thomas Lawrence, P.R.A.; Lord Byron, after a miniature by J. Holmes; Sir John Nicholl, dean of the arches, after W. Owen, R.A.; Miss O'Neill, as ‘Belvedera,’ after A. W. Devis; Charles Mathews, in five characters on one sheet, after G. H. Harlow; Alderman John Boydell, after Gilbert Stuart; Philip James de Loutherbourg, R.A., after John Jackson, R.A.; and Henry Tilson, portrait-painter, after himself. Among his other plates are ‘Mary anointing the feet of Jesus,’ after W. Hilton, R.A.; ‘Sir Roger de Coverley going to Church,’ after C. R. Leslie, R.A.; ‘The Proposal’ (three girls sitting under a tree), and ‘Congratulation,’ after G. H. Harlow; ‘Hesitation,’ after S. Drummond, A.R.A.; ‘The Approaching Checkmate,’ after A. E. Chalon, R.A.; ‘Exeter Change,’ after J. Northcote, R.A.; ‘The Blunt Razor,’ after E. Bird, R.A.; ‘The Stolen Kiss,’ after W. Kidd, R.S.A.; ‘The Dancing Bear,’ after W. F. Witherington, R.A.; and ‘I will fight,’ after the picture by Philip Simpson in the South Kensington Museum.
[Gent. Mag. 1847, ii. 665; Redgrave's Dict. of Artists of the English School, 1878; Exhibition Catalogues of the Royal Academy, 1821–6; Exhibition Catalogues of the Society of British Artists, 1824–33.]