Engraving after a self-portrait (1797)

Thomas Forster (1676/7–after 1712;^[1] fl. 1695–1712) was an English portrait draughtsman and miniaturist.

Works

Forster is known from a number of small portraits in pencil on vellum, and according to Lionel Cust they are "drawn with exquisite care and feeling".^[2] The majority of these were no doubt intended for engraving as frontispieces to books, and the following were so engraved by Michael Vander Gucht and others: John Savage, Sir Thomas Littleton, the Speaker, William Lloyd, Bishop of St. Asaph, Humphry Hody, John Newte, and others.^[2]

Unlike David Loggan, Robert White, and John Faber Senior, who drew portraits "ad vivum" in the same style, Forster does not appear to have been an engraver himself. A number of his drawings were exhibited at the special Exhibition of Portrait Miniatures at the South Kensington Museum in 1865; they included Robert, Lord Lucas, Archbishop Ussher, Sir Thomas Pope Blount, Baronet, Lady Blount, John, Lord Somers, and Admiral Sir George Rooke. A drawing of Margaret Harcourt was acquired for the print room at the British Museum. His portraits are highly valued.^[2]

Gallery

• 
  Portrait of a Man (1699)
• 
  Portrait of Lady Anne Churchill (1700)
• 
  Portrait of a Man (1700)
• 
  Portrait of a Woman (1700)
• 
  Portrait of a Woman (1701)
• 
  Portrait of a Man (1705)
• 
  Banqueting House, Whitehall (undated)

References

Sources

• Bromley, Henry (1793). A Catalogue of Engraved British Portraits. London: T. Payne; J. Edwards; W. Otridge and Son; R. Faulder. pp. 216, 220, 224, 226, 298.
• Brown, David Blayney (2003). "Forster, Thomas". Grove Art Online. Oxford University Press. Retrieved 17 September 2022.
• {DNB|wstitle=Forster, Thomas (fl.1695-1712)|last=Cust|first=Lionel Henry|volume=20|pages=21}}}}
• Coombs, Katherine (2004). "Forster, Thomas (b. 1676/7), portrait draughtsman". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press. Retrieved 17 September 2022.
• Oliver, Valerie Cassel, ed. (2011). "Forster, Thomas". Benezit Dictionary of Artists. Oxford University Press. Retrieved 17 September 2022.
• Redgrave, Samuel (1878). "Forster, Thomas". A Dictionary of Artists of the English School. New ed. London: George Bell and Sons. p. 158.
• Catalogue of the Special Exhibition of Portrait Miniatures on Loan at the South Kensington Museum, June 1865. London: Whittingham and Wilkins, 1865. pp. v, ix, 14, 102, 103, 105, 126, 207, 229, 239, 266, 267, 268, 272, 274, 291.
• "Thomas Forster". National Portrait Gallery. Retrieved 17 September 2022.
• "Thomas Forster". The British Museum. Retrieved 17 September 2022.