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William Hoare RA (c. 1707 – 12 December, 1792) was an English painter and printmaker, co-founder of...

William Hoare RA (c. 1707 – 12 December, 1792) was an English painter and printmaker, co-founder of the Royal Academy noted for his pastels. Born near Eye, Suffolk, Hoare received a gentleman’s education in Faringdon. He showed a marked aptitude for drawing and was sent to London to study under Giuseppe Grisoni, who had left Florence for London in 1715. When Grisoni returned to Italy in 1728, Hoare went with him, travelling to Rome and continuing his studies under the direction of Francesco Imperiali. He remained in Rome for nine years, returning to London in 1737/8. Failing to establish himself in London, Hoare settled in Bath, an expanding spa town popular with the wealthier classes. He obtained numerous commissions, the most important being for official portraits of social leaders of the day (including George Frideric Handel) and political men (e.g., Prime Ministers Robert Walpole and William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham, c.1754). There are several versions of most of these, suggesting that he had a studio, and they were further publicized by the production of mezzotints by leading engravers of the day. Hoare himself was a delicate etcher and published a number of private plates,