Mid-Georgian Portraits Catalogue

Samuel Ireland (1744-1800), Writer and engraver

Engraver; weaver in Spitalfields who turned to dealing in prints and drawings while practising as a self-taught artist and engraver; exhibited RA 1784 and contributed to the Graphic Illustrations of Hogarth 1794; his later career centred on the defence of his (putative) son W. H. Ireland (1777-1835) against charges of forgery (as the ‘Shakespeare’ play Vortigern of 1796).


This extended catalogue entry is from the out-of-print National Portrait Gallery collection catalogue: John Ingamells, National Portrait Gallery: Mid-Georgian Portraits 1760-1790, National Portrait Gallery, 2004, 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.