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are also engraved in Buck's ' Lincolnshire Views/ He died 1732.
• COLLINS, Samuel, miniature pavnter. He was born at Bristol, the son of a clergy- man, and was educated as an attorney. There is no trace of the circumstances under which he was led to art or of his art- teaching. But about the middle of the 18th century he was in practice at Bath as a miniature painter; and shortly after Ozias Humphrey, afterwards so distinguished in the profession, was articled to him as his pupfl. About 1762 he removed to Dublin, and there enjoyed a very high reputation. He practised both on ivory and in enamel. The Royal Academy, was founded shortly after; but if he then survived, he never appears as an exhibitor.
- COLLINS, Richard, miniature paint-
er. He was born in Hampshire, January 30, 1755, and commenced art as the pupil of Meyer, R.A In 1777 he was an exhi- bitor of portraits at the Royal Academy, and continuing to exhibit, he was in 1787 appointed principal enamel and miniature painter to George III. He attained great excellence, and his miniatures are estimable in all the finest qualities of the art. He had a large share m the practice of his day. and gaining a competence, gradually ceased to exhibit about 1806 ? and retired to Per- shore, in Worcestershire, about 1811 ; but missing the companionship of his art friends in his old age, he returned to London about 1828, where he died August 5, 1831, aged 77.
COLLINS, Charles, draftsman. He published, in 1736, 12 large-sized folio plates of British Birds, drawn by himself. Each plate contains about 10 birds, fair representatives both of the birds and their natural action, with a background, and tolerably grouped. An attempt has been made to colour them, but the artist of that time was sadly in want of the requisite materials.
COLLINS, William, engraver. He en- graved some of the plates for ' The British Theatre/ and was of much repute in his day. He died May 31, 1793.
COLLINS, William, sculptor and mo- deller. Was one of the first members of the St. Martin's Lane Academy, and a member of the Incorporated Society of Artists. He modelled rustic subjects for the friezes of chimney-pieces, many of them taken from JEsop's * Fables/ which were much in vogue, and his works were widely known and admired. He modelled a pro- totype bust for Frank Haynian's 'Don Quixote/ He exhibited a bas-relief at the Society of Artists in 1761, and was one of the directors of the Incorporated Society in 1765. Gainsborough was his friend. He resided in Tothill Fields, and died there May 24, 1793., 92
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COLLINS, William, R.A., subject painter. Was born September 18, 1788, in Great Tichfield Street, London, where his father, a native of Wicklow — who among other works wrote, ' A Life of George Morland, the Painter' — was settled as a picture-cleaner and dealer. He stood by the easel of Morland, his father's friend, and early imbibing a taste for drawing, in 1807 he was admitted a student of the Royal Academy, and exhibited two land- scapes. In 1809 he gained a medal in the life-school, and in the same year exhibited his first work. Though occasionally paint- ing portraits, he chose for his subjects rustic groups and landscape — ' Boy at Break- fast/ * Boy with a Cat ; ' in 1810, * Cot- tage Children blowing Bubbles;' in 1811, ' Country Kitchen ; ' m 1813, ' The Sale of the Pet Lamb/ a work which added greatly to his growing reputation ; but about 1816 he commenced painting coast scenes, which he treated with great freshness and truth ; his ' Coast of Norfolk/ 1818, finding a pur- chaser in the Prince Regent. In 1814 he was elected an associate, and in 1820 a member, of the Royal Academy. He con- tinued a constant exhibitor of such subjects ; they were carefully painted, his colouring and composition of rustic groups pleasing, and his art popular. In 1836 he produced two of his best works—' Sunday Morning ' and ' Happy as a King ; ' and then, in order to vary his subjects, he went to Italy, where he travelled for two years, and on his return commenced his pictures from Italian life, followed, in 1840, by attempts at a higher style— 'Our Saviour with the Doctors in the Temple/ 'The Two Disciples at Em- maus/ and Contemporaneously with such works gradually returned to his first man- ner, seeking his subjects on our own coasts. His art was feeble, wanting in vigour and power ; his best works will be pnzecL but the high reputation which he enjoyed will hardly be maintained, though from his happy choice of subjects his pictures will always be popular, and many of them have been engraved and have had a large sale. He sketched in water-colour, using tinted paper with body colour for the high lights. Some of his earlier sketches, which are of small size, have much truth and brilliancy. He etched some of his coast scenes, com- bining mezzo-tint largely and effectively. He married, in 1822, Miss Geddes, the sis- ter of Mrs. Carpenter, the portrait painter. When in Italy he laid, by exposure, the foundation of an illness which undermined his constitution. He died in Devonport Street, Hyde Park Gardens, February 17, 1847, and was buried in the cemetery of the church of St. Mary, Paddington. He left two sons, one of whom followed his profession'; the other, a well-known popular writer/published a life of his father in 1849.
