- John Chamberlaine
John Chamberlaine (1745 -
12 January 1812 Paddington Green ) was anantiquary and acted as keeper ofGeorge III 's drawings, coins and medals from 1791 until his death in 1812. He published prints of drawings in theRoyal Collection byHolbein ,Leonardo ,Carracci and others, for whichFrancesco Bartolozzi (1728-1815) the engraver and etcher, was commissioned as a printmaker. [ [http://www.grosvenorprints.com/ Grosvenor Prints] ]The original Holbein drawings had disappeared and reappeared in royal hands a number of times since their creation in the mid-sixteenth century.
Caroline of Ansbach framed and hung them at Richmond Lodge. In the 1740sGeorge III had them taken out of their frames and rebound in two volumes. Richard Dalton, who acted as George III’s first librarian, had engravings made of 35 of the drawings between 1774 and 1791. The plates were published by W. Richardson in 1792 and titled "The Court of Henry the Eighth"; these reproductions turned out to be of poor quality.Chamberlaine, who was appointed to his post on the death of Dalton in 1791, collaborated with
Frederick Augusta Barnard and published eighty-four plates in 14 parts between March 1792 and February 1800. The work was titled "Imitations of Original Drawings by Hans Holbein in the Collection of His Majesty for the Portraits of Illustrious Persons of the Court of Henry VIII". The biographical notes were provided byEdmund Lodge , theLancaster Herald , the vast majority of the plates being engraved by Francesco Bartolozzi, whom Dalton had imported fromFlorence in 1764, and some by Anthony Cardon (1772-1813). [ [http://royalcollection.org.uk/eGallery/object.asp?maker=CHAMBERLAINE&object=809364a&row=0&detail=about Royal Collection] ] He then published "Original Designs of the most Celebrated Masters of Bolognese, Roman, Florentine and Venetian Schools, comprising some of the Works of L. da Vinci, the Carracci, C. Lorrain, Raphael, Michael Angelo, the Poussins and Others in His Majesty's Collection.", London (1812). The plates for this work were prepared mainly by Bartolozzi with the assistance of his pupil, Tomkins. [ [http://books.google.co.za/books?id=BD7XODeS2aEC&pg=PA7&lpg=PA7&dq=John+Chamberlaine+(1745-1812)&source=web&ots=zMb5SlG-Xo&sig=W5gEFr741o_fV0-0ixTNxnS1QQA&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=4&ct=result#PPA7,M1 Dictionary of National Biography, edited by Leslie Stephen] ]Chamberlaine was admitted as a member of the Society of Antiquaries on 7 June 1792. He was also a member of the
Society of Arts .References
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