Regency Portraits Catalogue
William Roscoe (1753-1831), Banker, historian and collector
- Gallery portraits
- All known portraits
- Biography and References
Roscoe was a Liverpool man; most of his portraits are in Liverpool where the Walker Art Gallery has a special Roscoe Room. Warwick Wroth lists 9 portraits in Dictionary of National Biography. A note on his portraiture is in Liverpool Bulletin, II, 1952, p I, and George Chandler, William Roscoe of Liverpool, 1953 gives a selection on pp 158-9. WAG below = Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool.
c.1780
Oil by Caddick in WAG (3110) though the identity is doubtful and there is confusion with no.3109 which was reproduced in Connoisseur, XXXVI, 1913, p 152, and see Walpole Society Journal, VI, 1918, plates xxv(b) and xxix(a). The question is discussed in Mary Bennett, Merseyside Painters, People and Places, Walker Art Gallery Catalogue, 1978, pp 66-7.
1784
Oil by Williamson (NPG 963).
before 1796
Miniature in Lord Orford's collection seen by Farington, Diary, 14 July 1796.
1800
Enamel by Moses Haughton exhibited RA 1800 (875).
1804
Bust by George Bullock exhibited RA 1804 (849).
1811
Miniature by Moses Haughton (junior) in WAG painted in 1811 for Roscoe's printer John McCreery, exhibited RA 1813 (574) and engraved by Picart for Cadell's Contemporary Portraits, 1822; reproduced Daphne Foskett, Dictionary of British Miniature Painters, 1972, plate 150.
1813
Terracotta medallion by Gibson dated 1813 in WAG, later issued as a Wedgwood jasper medallion; etching by Mrs Dawson Turner. Lithographs published Gauci and M. Haughton, and a drawing by the painter's daughter, Miss P. McCreery, was engraved by Thomson for the Life of William Roscoe, vol.II frontispiece, described there as an unusually good likeness. A bust by Gibson commissioned by Watson Taylor in 1816 and sold Erlestoke Park 1832 is possibly that now in Liverpool Royal Institution; a marble copy incised: GIBSON FECT. 1819 ROMA at Christie's 15 December 1982 (343); a memorial replica in Ullet Road Unitarian church.
Bust by Spence exhibited Liverpool Academy 1813, see NPG 4147.
1815-17
Oil by Shee in WAG (3130), painted for Coke's Manuscript Library at Holkham, exhibited RA 1817 (149) and given by Coke's son, 2nd Earl of Leicester, to Liverpool in 1860. It shows Roscoe seated in a library surrounded by books and manuscripts and with Nollekens's bust of C. J. Fox, his political hero, on the table (reproduced in colour as Chandler's frontispiece); a standing variant of c.1819 is WAG (4555). They are both described in Mary Bennett, Merseyside Painters, People and Places, Walker Art Gallery Catalogue, 1978, pp 190-2 and plates 106-7.
1815
Stipple engraving by Hopwood 'from an Original Picture, by Permission', published Payne, 1 July 1815, possibly derives from Haughton's miniature of 1811.
c.1818
Wax relief by Percy at Sotheby's 16 May 1957 (7), half-length in brown coat set in red and black curtains.
c.1821
Miniature by Hargreaves in WAG (2192), engraved in stipple by Thomson for The European Magazine, 1 August 1822 and exhibited SBA 1824 (466); reproduced on cover of Liverpool Bulletin, II, July 1952.
c.1823
Oil by Lonsdale in WAG (3004), exhibited RA 1823 (198), engraved in stipple by Woolnoth (with variations) for Ladies' Monthly Museum, 1 January 1825, and by Freeman for Jerdan's National Portrait Gallery, 1832. A copy by Henderson, signed and dated 1826, was at Phillips 28 April 1969 (76) and another of c.1847 is WAG (3013). A drawing exhibited SBA 1824 (506), perhaps that now in Liverpool University.
c.1830-1
Drawing by Maclise published in Fraser's Magazine, VI, December 1832, p 635 - 'the picture opposite is a very exact likeness'.
Posthumous
1834
Statue by Isaac Jackson exhibited Liverpool 1834 (Rupert Gunnis, Dictionary of British Sculptors 1660-1851, 1953, p 217).
1836
Bust by Pierachini exhibited Liverpool 1836 (Rupert Gunnis, Dictionary of British Sculptors 1660-1851, 1953, p 304).
1840
Statue by Chantrey in Liverpool, plaster model exhibited RA 1840 (1071) and in Ashmolean Museum (624-112).
1853
Memorial medallion by Allen & Moore was issued by Joseph Mayer, 8 March 1853, the centenary of Roscoe's birth, profile copied from Gibson's terracotta of 1813, set in laurel wreath and butterfly; nickel alloy example, 4.8 cm diameter, in NPG Reference Collection. Other medals are mentioned in George Chandler, William Roscoe of Liverpool, 1953, p 159 and plate 137.
This extended catalogue entry is from the out-of-print National Portrait Gallery collection catalogue: Richard Walker, Regency Portraits, National Portrait Gallery, 1985, and is as published then. For the most up-to-date details on individual Collection works, we recommend reading the information provided in the Search the Collection results on this website in parallel with this text.
c.1780
Oil by Caddick in WAG (3110) though the identity is doubtful and there is confusion with no.3109 which was reproduced in Connoisseur, XXXVI, 1913, p 152, and see Walpole Society Journal, VI, 1918, plates xxv(b) and xxix(a). The question is discussed in Mary Bennett, Merseyside Painters, People and Places, Walker Art Gallery Catalogue, 1978, pp 66-7.
1784
Oil by Williamson (NPG 963).
before 1796
Miniature in Lord Orford's collection seen by Farington, Diary, 14 July 1796.
1800
Enamel by Moses Haughton exhibited RA 1800 (875).
1804
Bust by George Bullock exhibited RA 1804 (849).
1811
Miniature by Moses Haughton (junior) in WAG painted in 1811 for Roscoe's printer John McCreery, exhibited RA 1813 (574) and engraved by Picart for Cadell's Contemporary Portraits, 1822; reproduced Daphne Foskett, Dictionary of British Miniature Painters, 1972, plate 150.
1813
Terracotta medallion by Gibson dated 1813 in WAG, later issued as a Wedgwood jasper medallion; etching by Mrs Dawson Turner. Lithographs published Gauci and M. Haughton, and a drawing by the painter's daughter, Miss P. McCreery, was engraved by Thomson for the Life of William Roscoe, vol.II frontispiece, described there as an unusually good likeness. A bust by Gibson commissioned by Watson Taylor in 1816 and sold Erlestoke Park 1832 is possibly that now in Liverpool Royal Institution; a marble copy incised: GIBSON FECT. 1819 ROMA at Christie's 15 December 1982 (343); a memorial replica in Ullet Road Unitarian church.
Bust by Spence exhibited Liverpool Academy 1813, see NPG 4147.
1815-17
Oil by Shee in WAG (3130), painted for Coke's Manuscript Library at Holkham, exhibited RA 1817 (149) and given by Coke's son, 2nd Earl of Leicester, to Liverpool in 1860. It shows Roscoe seated in a library surrounded by books and manuscripts and with Nollekens's bust of C. J. Fox, his political hero, on the table (reproduced in colour as Chandler's frontispiece); a standing variant of c.1819 is WAG (4555). They are both described in Mary Bennett, Merseyside Painters, People and Places, Walker Art Gallery Catalogue, 1978, pp 190-2 and plates 106-7.
1815
Stipple engraving by Hopwood 'from an Original Picture, by Permission', published Payne, 1 July 1815, possibly derives from Haughton's miniature of 1811.
c.1818
Wax relief by Percy at Sotheby's 16 May 1957 (7), half-length in brown coat set in red and black curtains.
c.1821
Miniature by Hargreaves in WAG (2192), engraved in stipple by Thomson for The European Magazine, 1 August 1822 and exhibited SBA 1824 (466); reproduced on cover of Liverpool Bulletin, II, July 1952.
c.1823
Oil by Lonsdale in WAG (3004), exhibited RA 1823 (198), engraved in stipple by Woolnoth (with variations) for Ladies' Monthly Museum, 1 January 1825, and by Freeman for Jerdan's National Portrait Gallery, 1832. A copy by Henderson, signed and dated 1826, was at Phillips 28 April 1969 (76) and another of c.1847 is WAG (3013). A drawing exhibited SBA 1824 (506), perhaps that now in Liverpool University.
c.1830-1
Drawing by Maclise published in Fraser's Magazine, VI, December 1832, p 635 - 'the picture opposite is a very exact likeness'.
Posthumous
1834
Statue by Isaac Jackson exhibited Liverpool 1834 (Rupert Gunnis, Dictionary of British Sculptors 1660-1851, 1953, p 217).
1836
Bust by Pierachini exhibited Liverpool 1836 (Rupert Gunnis, Dictionary of British Sculptors 1660-1851, 1953, p 304).
1840
Statue by Chantrey in Liverpool, plaster model exhibited RA 1840 (1071) and in Ashmolean Museum (624-112).
1853
Memorial medallion by Allen & Moore was issued by Joseph Mayer, 8 March 1853, the centenary of Roscoe's birth, profile copied from Gibson's terracotta of 1813, set in laurel wreath and butterfly; nickel alloy example, 4.8 cm diameter, in NPG Reference Collection. Other medals are mentioned in George Chandler, William Roscoe of Liverpool, 1953, p 159 and plate 137.
This extended catalogue entry is from the out-of-print National Portrait Gallery collection catalogue: Richard Walker, Regency Portraits, National Portrait Gallery, 1985, and is as published then. For the most up-to-date details on individual Collection works, we recommend reading the information provided in the Search the Collection results on this website in parallel with this text.