Lewis II Vaslet (1742–1808) was an English portrait painter. His most common works were small or miniature oval

pastel A pastel () is an art medium that consists of powdered pigment and a binder (material), binder. It can exist in a variety of forms, including a stick, a square, a pebble, and a pan of color, among other forms. The pigments used in pastels are ...

s in the style of the Irish painter

Hugh Douglas Hamilton Hugh Douglas Hamilton RHA ( – 10 February 1808) was an Irish portrait-painter. He spent considerable periods in London and Rome before returning to Dublin in the early 1790s. Until the mid- 1770s, he worked mostly in pastel. His style ...

(–1808), showing head and shoulders at 3/4 orientation, often viewed slightly from below.

Origins

He was born in 1742 in

York York is a cathedral city in North Yorkshire, England, with Roman Britain, Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers River Ouse, Yorkshire, Ouse and River Foss, Foss. It has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a Yor ...

, the son of Andrew (or André) Vaslet (1694–1768), who ran a boarding school for young ladies in York. Andre was the son of Lewis I (''alias'' Louis, Ludovici) Vaslet (1666–1731), a

Huguenot The Huguenots ( , ; ) are a Religious denomination, religious group of French people, French Protestants who held to the Reformed (Calvinist) tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, ...

school teacher and headmaster of

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies in a loop on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea, London, Chelsea ...

School, west of London, (later known as

Burlington House Burlington House is a building on Piccadilly in Mayfair, London. It was originally a private English Baroque and then Neo-Palladian mansion owned by the Earl of Burlington, Earls of Burlington. It was significantly expanded in the mid-19th cent ...

School) who in 1723 in

The Hague The Hague ( ) is the capital city of the South Holland province of the Netherlands. With a population of over half a million, it is the third-largest city in the Netherlands. Situated on the west coast facing the North Sea, The Hague is the c ...

published a translation of Cellarius, and in 1731 in London published a trilingual dictionary. Lewis I purchased Fulham House from Colonel George Howard. Lewis I's gravestone records that he "bestowed great pains upon the teaching of the young through a period of 45 years".

Career

Lewis II commenced his career as a soldier, and was an

ensign Ensign most often refers to: * Ensign (flag), a flag flown on a vessel to indicate nationality * Ensign (rank), a navy (and former army) officer rank Ensign or The Ensign may also refer to: Places * Ensign, Alberta, Alberta, Canada * Ensign, Ka ...

when stationed in

Gibraltar Gibraltar ( , ) is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory and British overseas cities, city located at the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula, on the Bay of Gibraltar, near the exit of the Mediterranean Sea into the A ...

. He soon abandoned that profession and travelled to Italy to study painting. In 1770 and 1771, then resident in York, and having obtained many clients from amongst the local gentry, he submitted miniature portraits for assessment and display at the

Royal Academy The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House in Piccadilly London, England. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its ...

in London. In about 1775 he moved to

Bath Bath may refer to: * Bathing, immersion in a fluid ** Bathtub, a large open container for water, in which a person may wash their body ** Public bathing, a public place where people bathe * Thermae, ancient Roman public bathing facilities Plac ...

in Somerset, where he lived for the rest of his life.

Marriage and children

In 1776 at Bath he married Juliet Elizabeth Booth Clarke, of the parish of St Michael's, Bath.

Works

In 1787 he advertised his repertoire in the mediums of "oils, miniature, crayons &c." as including: :"Views of gentlemen’s seats etc., also game, live and dead fish, fruits, flowers, hot house plants and insects etc., so combined and put together as to compose desirable furniture pictures and proper for the ingenious imitation of such ladies who are proficient in drawing needlework embroidery etc."

Surviving works

His surviving works include: * A group of 14 pastels in the New Common Room at

Merton College, Oxford Merton College (in full: The House or College of Scholars of Merton in the University of Oxford) is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Its foundation can be traced back to the 126 ...

*pastels of members of Merton College, Oxford, in private collections.

Death and burial

Vaslet died in 1808, having written his will in 1806 (at Caroline Buildings in the parish of Lyncombe and Widcombe, Somerset).Jeffares

Sources

*Jeffares, Neil, ''Dictionary of Pastellists before 1800'', on-line editio

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vaslet, Lewis 1742 births 1808 deaths Artists from York 18th-century English painters English male painters 19th-century English painters English portrait miniaturists 19th-century English male artists 18th-century English male artists