Richard Brompton

Charles Saunders, painted in 1772/1773. Now in the National Maritime Museum.

Richard Brompton, a portrait painter, was a pupil of Benjamin Wilson. He afterwards went to Italy, and resided some time at Rome, where he received instructions from Raphael Mengs. He was there introduced to the patronage of the Earl of Northampton, and accompanied that nobleman to Venice, when he was appointed ambassador to the republic. At Venice he painted a conversation-piece, in which he introduced the portraits of the Duke of York and several English gentlemen then on their travels. The picture was afterwards exhibited at the rooms in Spring Gardens in 1763, at which time he returned to England, and for some years practised portrait painting. Extravagant living brought him to the King's Bench, but he was rescued by the Empress of Russia, at whose request he went to St. Petersburg, where he was appointed portrait painter to the empress, and where he met with much employment. He died in that city in 1782. Among his best works are:

Portrait of Thomas Lyttelton, 2nd Baron Lyttelton, ca. 1775. Now at the National Portrait Gallery.

• The Prince of Wales in the Robes of the Garter, in 1772; mezzotinted by John Saunders.
• Prince Frederick in the Robes of the Bath; mezzotinted hy John Saunders.
• The Earl of Chatham.
• Admiral Saunders; in Greenwich Hospital. (pictured)

References

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Bryan, Michael (1886). "BROMPTON, Richard". In Graves, Robert Edmund (ed.). Bryan's Dictionary of Painters and Engravers (A–K). Vol. I (3rd ed.). London: George Bell & Sons.[[Category:Wikipedia articles incorporating text from Bryan's Dictionary of Painters and Engravers, volume 1|]]