Richard Cosway

Richard Cosway

Cosway, Richard, Sir
(Oakford/Devonshire 1742-1821 London)
Cosway was placed in apprenticeship with Hudson in London when he was 12 years old. He additionally studied at the Shipley Drawing School and at the school of the Royal Academy in 1769. Between 1755 and 1760 he received many prizes from the Society of Art. He exhibited in the Society of Artists from 1760 to 1767 and from 1770 to 1806 in the Royal Academy from which he became a member in 1771. Cosway married the artist Maria Louisa Catherine Cecilia Hadfield in 1781 and called himself Primarius Pic­tor Serenissimi Principis Walliae from about 1785 onwards. His house which housed a significant art collection became a social meeting point. The artist travelled to Paris in 1786 and later through Flanders. Cosway was a role model for many English miniature painters.