Robert Pollard (engraver)
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Robert Pollard (1755–1838) was an English engraver and painter.


Life

Born at
Newcastle-on-Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne, or simply Newcastle ( , RP: ), is a cathedral city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It is England's northernmost metropolitan borough, located on the River Tyne's northern bank opposite Gateshead to the ...
, Pollard was articled to a watch-smith there, and then became a pupil of Richard Wilson. For a time he practised as a landscape and marine painter, producing such works as "The Departure", based on the ship wreck of the
84th Regiment of Foot The 84th (York and Lancaster) Regiment of Foot was a regiment in the British Army, raised in 1793. Under the Childers Reforms it amalgamated with the 65th (2nd Yorkshire, North Riding) Regiment of Foot to form the York and Lancaster Regiment, with ...
(1780). In 1781 he moved to London, worked as an engraver for the printseller John Harris, and established himself in a studio in
Spa Fields Spa Fields is a park and its surrounding area in the London Borough of Islington, bordering Finsbury and Clerkenwell. Historically it is known for the Spa Fields riots of 1816 and an Owenite community which existed there between 1821 and 1824. The ...
, London. In 1788 Pollard was elected a fellow, and in the following year a director, of the
Incorporated Society of Artists The Society of Artists of Great Britain was founded in London in May 1761 by an association of artists in order to provide a venue for the public exhibition of recent work by living artists, such as was having success in the long-established P ...
, which closed down in 1791. He was in business for many years in
Islington Islington ( ) is an inner-city area of north London, England, within the wider London Borough of Islington. It is a mainly residential district of Inner London, extending from Islington's #Islington High Street, High Street to Highbury Fields ...
. In 1810 he sold up, but then in Holloway Place ran a printselling business, for which his son James supplied many of the designs. In October 1836, as the last surviving member, Pollard gave the charter, books, and papers of the Incorporated Society to 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 ...
. They had been passed to him in 1808 by Charles Taylor. The latter part of Pollard's life was spent in poverty and obscurity. He died on 23 May 1838, and was buried at St Mary's,
Hornsey Hornsey () is a district of north London, England, in the London Borough of Haringey. It is an inner-suburban, for the most part residential, area centred north of Charing Cross. It adjoins green spaces Queen's Wood to the west and Alexand ...
.The Monumental Inscriptions of Middlesex Vol III - Cansick 1875. https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uiuc.3465163_001&seq=68&q1=pollard


Works

For a decade in London, Pollard produced a large number of plates, executed in his own mixed style, composed of
line engraving Line engraving is a term for engraved images printed on paper to be used as prints or illustrations. The term is mainly used in connection with 18th- or 19th-century commercial illustrations for magazines and books or reproductions of paintings. ...
, etching, and
aquatint Aquatint is an intaglio printmaking technique, a variant of etching that produces areas of tone rather than lines. For this reason it has mostly been used in conjunction with etching, to give both lines and shaded tone. It has also been used ...
. Some were from his own designs: ''Lieutenant Moody rescuing a Prisoner'', 1785, ''Adventure of Lady Harriet Ackland'', 1784, ''Edwin and Angelina'', 1785, ''The Blind Beggar of Bethnal Green'', and eight plates of shipping. After other artists, Pollard engraved: * ''Wreck of the Grosvenor East Indiaman'', 1784; * ''Wreck of the Halsewell East Indiaman'', 1786; * ''Margaret Nicholson's attempt to murder George III'', 1786; and * two plates illustrating the restoration of a young man to life by
John Coakley Lettsom John Coakley Lettsom Fellow of the Royal Society, FRS (1744 – 1 November 1815) was a British physician and philanthropist born on Little Jost Van Dyke in the British Virgin Islands in a Quaker settlement. The son of a West Indian planter and ...
and William Hawes, 1787, these all after Robert Smirke; * ''Trial of Warren Hastings'', 1789; * ''Thanksgiving Day in St. Paul's'', 1789; and * Views of Bloomsbury, Hanover, Grosvenor, and Queen squares, London, all after Edward Dayes; * ''Wreck of the Centaur'' and ''Preservation of Captain Inglefield after the Wreck'', a pair after Robert Dodd, 1783; * ''Leonora'', after
John Raphael Smith John Raphael Smith (25 May 1751 – 2 March 1812) was a British Painting, painter and mezzotinter. He was the son of Thomas Smith (English painter), Thomas Smith of Derby, the landscape painter, and father of John Rubens Smith, a painter who e ...
, 1786. Pollard engraved many naval scenes after
Nicholas Pocock Nicholas Pocock (2 March 1740 – 9 March 1821) was an English artist known for his many detailed paintings of naval battles during the age of sail. Birth and early career at sea Pocock was born in Bristol in 1740, the son of a seaman.Chatte ...
; also works after
Richard Cosway Richard Cosway (5 November 1742 – 4 July 1821) was a leading English portrait painter of the Georgian and Regency era, noted for his miniatures. He was a contemporary of John Smart, George Engleheart, William Wood, and Richard Cross ...
,
Sawrey Gilpin Sawrey Gilpin (30 October 1733 – 8 March 1807) was an English animal painter, illustrator, and etcher who specialised in paintings of horses and dogs. He was made a Royal Academician. Life and work Gilpin was born in Carlisle, Cumbria ...
,
Thomas Stothard Thomas Stothard (17 August 1755 – 27 April 1834) was a British painter, illustrator and engraver. His son, Robert T. Stothard was a painter (floruit, fl. 1810): he painted the proclamation outside York Minster of Queen Victoria's accession to ...
,
Francis Wheatley Francis Wheatley may refer to: *Francis Wheatley (painter) Francis Wheatley Royal Academy, RA (174728 June 1801) was an England, English portrait and Landscape art, landscape Painting, painter. Life and work Wheatley was born at Wild Court, Cov ...
, and some other artists. Many of these plates were finished in aquatint by
Francis Jukes Francis Jukes (1745–1812) was a prolific engraver and publisher, chiefly known for his topographical view, topographical and shipping prints, the majority in aquatint. He worked alongside the great illustrators of the late eighteenth century. He ...
.


Family

Pollard married Ann Iley of Newcastle in 1778. The artist
James Pollard James Pollard (1792–1867) was a British Painting, painter noted for his mail coach, fox hunting and equine scenes. Life Pollard was born in Baynes Spa Fields (later renamed Exmouth Street) in Islington, the son of the painter and publisher Ro ...
was their son.


Notes

;Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Pollard, Robert 1755 births 1838 deaths 18th-century English painters 19th-century English painters Artists from Newcastle upon Tyne English engravers English male painters 19th-century English male artists 18th-century English male artists