COLLINS, WILLIAM (d. 1793), modeller, had a large practice during the last half of the eighteenth century as a modeller of friezes and bas-reliefs for chimneypieces, reredoses, &c. He was one of the first members of the St. Martin`s Lane Academy, and a member of the Incorporated Society of Artists, and signed the roll declaration in 1765, being one of the first directors of that society. He contributed to the first exhibition in 1760, and continued to exhibit up to 1763; among the bas-reliefs exhibited by him were ‘Spring—Boys with a Bird’s Nest,' and ‘Romulus and Remus’ (1760), ‘Mary Magdalene and the other Mary coming to the sepulchre’ (1761); ‘Belisarius' (1763); ‘Bacchus and Ariadne’ (1764); ‘Œdipus’ (1765), subjects from Æsop’s fables, &c. He modelled a prototype bust of Hayman's ‘Don Quixote.’ A good example of his work, a bas-relief, representing ‘The Resurrection,’ was made for the chapel of Magdalene College, Cambridge, in 1756, and is now in the library of that college. In Ralph Willett’s
‘Description of the Library at Merly, Dorset’ (London, 1785), there is a vignette of Minerva on the title-page from a model by Collins. William Sharp also engraved two large oval subjects of ‘Britannia’ and ‘Athens’ from models by Collins. Collins was a friend of Gainsborough, and resided in Tothill Fields, Westminster, where he died in May 1793.
[Redgrave’s Dict. of English Artists; Graves's Dict. of Artists, 1760-1880; Pye's Patronage of British Art; Gent. Mag. lxiii. (1793), 576; Willis and Clark’s Architectural History of the University of Cambridge. ii. 377; Baker's Catalogue of the Works of William Sharp; Catalogues of the Incorporated Society of Artists.]
COLLINS, WILLIAM (1788–1847), landscape and figure painter was born in Great Titchfield Street, London, on 8 Sept. 1788. His father, a native of Wicklow, came over to England and settled in London, supporting his family by his literary talents. Among other works he wrote a poem on the slave trade, and a memoir of George Morland. Young Collins, when a child, stood by Morland’s easel, and showed so great an aptitude for art, that his father expected ‘to see poor Bill an R.A.’ In 1807 he entered, at the same time with Etty, the schools of the Royal Academy, and sent two small landscapes, both of them views near Millbank. In 1809 he gained a medal in the life school, and exhibited three pictures, viz. ‘Boy at Breakfast,’ ‘Boys with a Bird's-nest’ (purchased by Mr. Lister, his first patron), and a ‘Portrait of Master Lee as he spoke the Prologue at the Haymarket Theatre.’ Collins then resided at 118 Great Portland Street. In 1811 he sold to the Marquis of Stafford for eighty guineas a icture entitled ‘The Young Fifer.’ His father died in pecuniary difficulties early in the following year. In 1812 Collins painted the picture which made his name famous, viz. ‘The Sale of the Pet Lamb,’ sold for a hundred and forty guineas, afterwards engraved by S. W. Reynolds. He now became the chief support of his family, and found some valuable patrons, especiall Sir Thomas Freeman Heathcote, Sir John Leicester, Sir Robert Peel, Sir George Beaumont, and Lord Liverpool. In 1814 his two pictures, ‘The Blackberry Gatherers,’ purchased by Mrs. Hand, and ‘The Birdcatchers,’ purchased by the Marquis of Lansdowne, gained for him admission as associate of the Royal Academy. This honour increased his industry, and encouraged him to attempt more elaborate subjects. In 1815 he was sketching on the coast near Cromer, and produced the ‘Scene on the Coast of Norfolk,’ acquired by George IV, then prince regent. This picture was engraved for the series of royal pictures, and is now in the corridor at Windsor Castle. In 1817 Collins visited Paris in company with Leslie and Washington Allston, and painted ‘The Departure of the Diligence from Rouen,’ sold to Sir George Beaumont, and the ‘Scene on the Boulevards,’ bought by the Duke of Newcastle. These were exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1818, when Collins resided at 11 New Cavendish Street, Portland Place. About this period Collins painted several portraits. In 1820 he was elected a Royal Academician, presenting as his diploma picture ‘The Young Anglers.’ Two years later he married Miss Geddes, the daughter of Andrew Geddes, A.R.A., and sister of Margaret Sarah Carpenter, the portrait painter. He now continued to exhibit and to travel in England and Scotland. At this period his art was very popular. In 1826 Collins painted ‘The Fisherman’s Departure,’ engraved by Phelps. In 1828 he made a tour in Holland and Belgium, and lived a short time at Boulogne in 1886. ‘Rustic Popularity’ was executed in 1834 for John
