Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Williams, Robert (fl.1690)

1016820Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900, Volume 61 — Williams, Robert (fl.1690)1900Freeman Marius O'Donoghue

WILLIAMS, ROBERT or ROGER (fl. 1690), mezzotint-engraver, was a Welshman who resided in London, and is said to have been a pupil of the Dutch artist Theodore Freres. He practised exclusively in mezzotint, and his plates, which number about sixty, are brilliant and masterly; they are chiefly portraits of royal and other notable persons of the time, from pictures by Lely, Kneller, Closterman, Riley, Dahl, and especially Wissing. Williams's prints were published between 1680 and 1704, mostly by J. Savage and E. Cooper, and some were reissued by John Smith (1652?–1742) [q. v.], who retouched them and substituted his own name for that of Williams.

[Redgrave's Dict. of Artists; Chaloner Smith's British Mezzotinto Portraits.]

F. M. O'D.