[Born 1755. Died 1834. Aged 79.]
Apprenticed at an early age to a pattern draughtsman. Subsequently, and
for many years, he furnished the illustrations to “The Novelist’s
Magazine.” Became the reigning prince of illustrators, and for fifty
years continued to adorn the pages, not only of contemporary literature,
but of our poets from Chaucer all down to Rogers. His most famous
productions are the illustrations to “The Pilgrim’s Progress,” to
“Robinson Crusoe,” to “Rogers’s Italy,” the Procession of the Flitch of
Bacon, the Pilgrimage to Canterbury, and the Wellington Shield. He made
many designs for sculptors; amongst others, that for Chantrey’s
“Sleeping Children,” in Lichfield cathedral. At one time or another he
attempted every branch of the limner’s art. He had great powers of
imagination, moulded and directed by unflagging industry and the
severest application. His genius is peculiarly English. He studied
deeply the works of Raffaelle and Durer, but was no slavish imitator of
these, or of any other men. The grace that clings to his works is
essentially the expression of his own mind. Let us see his productions
how, or when, or where we may, his spirit is detected at once, and we
say, “This is Stothard.” His female figures, not always strictly correct
in drawing, are exquisitely graceful. His life passed evenly in the
performance of labour in which he delighted. He was a good man, and his
works are his annals.
[From the marble executed by E. H. Baily, R.A., in. 1825, for Sir
Thomas Lawrence.]