Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Kyte, Francis
KYTE, FRANCIS (fl. 1710–1745), mezzotint-engraver and portrait-painter, was author of a few fair mezzotint-engravings, mostly published by Edward Cooper, for whom he probably worked. They include two portraits of Thomas Parker, earl of Macclesfield, after Kneller (one dated 1714), Henrietta, countess of Godolphin, after Kneller, Harriet, duchess of Newcastle, after Kneller, two of John Gay after W. Aikman, Archbishop Sharpe, and a set, engraved with John Faber, junior, of ‘The Worthies of Great Britain.’ In 1725 Kyte was convicted of forging a bank-note, and sentenced to the pillory. Later in life he seems to have devoted himself to portrait-painting. Among his sitters were Edward Cave, printer (1740), engraved by T. Worlidge; William Caslon, type-founder (1740), engraved by J. Faber, jun.; the Rev. George Whitefield, whole length (1743), engraved by J. Faber, jun.; and George Francis Handel (1742), engraved by Lewis (now in the possession of Mr. W. H. Cummings) (see Keith Milnes, Memoir relating to a Portrait of Handel, 1829).
[Chaloner Smith's British Mezzotinto Portraits; Dodd's manuscript Hist. of English Engravers (Brit. Mus. Add. MS. 33402).]