John Alefounder
John Alefounder (1757 – 1795) was a painter of portraits and miniatures, working in London and later in India.
Life
Alefounder was born in Colchester, Essex in 1757 and became a student at the Royal Academy Schools in 1776.[1]
He exhibited at the Royal Academy between 1777 and 1793. The first piece he showed was a Design for a Lunatic Asylum, but after that he showed mostly portraits.[2] He won a silver medal in 1782.
In 1784 he exhibited some theatrical portraits and portrait groups. Francesco Bartolozzi made an engraving after his portrait of "Peter the Wild Boy"[3] and in the same year C.H. Hodges engraved his portrait of the actor John Edwin.[3][4]
He subsequently went to India and died at Calcutta on 25 December 1794.[1][3] According to William Baillie, in a letter written the following year, he committed suicide, in despair at his financial situation.[5]
References
- 1 2 "John Alefounder". Royal Academy Collections. Retrieved 6 July 2012.
- ↑ Graves, Algernon (1905). The Royal Academy: A Complete Dictionary of Contributors from its Foundations in 1769 to 1904. 1. London: Henry Graves. p. 19.
- 1 2 3 Bryan,1886–9
- ↑ "H Beard Print Collection". Victoria and Albert Museum. Retrieved 6 July 2012.
- ↑ Tillotson, Giles Henry Rupert (2000). The Artificial Empire: The Indian Landscapes of William Hodges. Routledge. p. 121. ISBN 9780700712823.
Sources
- This article incorporates text from the article "ALEFOUNDER, John" in Bryan's Dictionary of Painters and Engravers by Michael Bryan, edited by Robert Edmund Graves and Sir Walter Armstrong, an 1886–1889 publication now in the public domain.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: "Alefounder, John". Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.
External links
- John Alefounder 1757-1794, artist (Alefounder ancestors)