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Thomas Holcroft

(1745-1809), Dramatist and writer

Regency Portraits Catalogue Entry

Sitter in 9 portraits
Thomas Holcroft was a dramatist, novelist, journalist and actor. The son of a peddler, he worked as a stable boy, cobbler and teacher before he was able to make his living as a writer. Holcroft is remembered for his melodrama The Road to Ruin (first performed 1792), his translation of Beaumarchais's play Le Mariage de Figaro under the title The Follies of a Day(performed 1784), in which Holcroft played the part of Figaro, and his autobiography, edited in 1816 by his friend William Hazlitt. The latter work helped found the nineteenth-century genre of working-class autobiography and established Holcroft in literary and political culture as an 'author sprung from the people'.

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Thomas Holcroft, by John Opie - NPG 3130

Thomas Holcroft

by John Opie
oil on canvas, circa 1782
NPG 3130

Thomas Holcroft; William Godwin, by Sir Thomas Lawrence - NPG 6880

Thomas Holcroft; William Godwin

by Sir Thomas Lawrence
pencil with black and red chalk, 1794
NPG 6880

Thomas Holcroft, by John Opie - NPG 512

Thomas Holcroft

by John Opie
oil on canvas, circa 1804
NPG 512

Thomas Holcroft, by Jean Condé, published by John Sewell - NPG D14991

Thomas Holcroft

by Jean Condé, published by John Sewell
stipple engraving, published 1792
NPG D14991

Thomas Holcroft, by William Daniell, after George Dance - NPG D19052

Thomas Holcroft

by William Daniell, after George Dance
soft-ground etching, (9 May 1795)
NPG D19052

'New morality; - or - the promis'd installment of the high-priest of the Theophilanthropes, with the homage of Leviathan and his suite', by James Gillray, published by John Wright - NPG D13093

'New morality; - or - the promis'd installment of the high-priest of the Theophilanthropes, with the homage of Leviathan and his suite'

by James Gillray, published by John Wright
etching, published 1 August 1798
NPG D13093

'New morality; - or - the promis'd installment of the high-priest of the Theophilanthropes, with the homage of Leviathan and his suite', by James Gillray, published by John Wright - NPG D13094

'New morality; - or - the promis'd installment of the high-priest of the Theophilanthropes, with the homage of Leviathan and his suite'

by James Gillray, published by John Wright
hand-coloured etching, published 1 August 1798
NPG D13094

Thomas Holcroft, by Thomas Hodgetts, after John Opie - NPG D3066

Thomas Holcroft

by Thomas Hodgetts, after John Opie
mezzotint, published 1816 (circa 1804)
NPG D3066

Thomas Holcroft, by Thomas Hodgetts, published by Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme & Brown, after John Opie - NPG D19135

Thomas Holcroft

by Thomas Hodgetts, published by Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme & Brown, after John Opie
mezzotint, published 1816 (circa 1804)
NPG D19135

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