William Skelton
(1763-1848), EngraverArtist associated with 60 portraits
William Skelton entered the Royal Academy Schools in 1781 and was a pupil, first of James Basire, and later of William Sharp. He was employed on the illustrations of many of the most sumptuous literary and learned publications of the day, notably John and Josiah Boydell's Shakespeare (1803), Thomas Macklin's Bible (1800-16) and Bowyer's edition of David Hume's The History of England. Skelton is best known for his many fine portraits of famous contemporaries, chiefly from pictures by Sir William Beechey, the majority of which he published himself between 1790 and 1820. These include a series of George III and his sons, Lord Mulgrave, Spencer Perceval and Warren Hastings.
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