Henry Bone was born in Truro where his father was an accomplished cabinet maker. Moving to Plymouth at the age of 12 his artistic ability was spotted by William Cookworthy, who manufactured porcelain in that city. In 1771 a factory move led to Bone being employed in the Bristol porcelain factory of Richard Champion. Leaving Bristol after Champion’s failure Bone went immediately to London, where he learned to enamel on copper. Despite his humble beginning he was appointed enameller to George III, George IV, and William IV, and became the only enameller to achieve full membership of the Royal Academy.
The book is in hard-back format, 224pp, with 277 Illustrations providing a core work of reference to enable potential identification of Bone’s work. The text examines Bone’s early life leading up to his decision to leave china-painting in Bristol for London, where he made his name. It covers the process of enamelling, as undertaken by Bone, and how he ordered his life and used technology to achieve a prolific output of paintings. His early work is illustrated and his struggle to gain recognition at the Royal Academy is documented. The bias against enamellers as copyists is re-examined and challenged, as it resulted in hardly any enamellers who are “painters” in Britain today. Later work is profusely illustrated and Bone’s client relationships are examined, both with private collectors and royalty. More that 50 portraits based on the Tudor period are reproduced which were part of the large un-commissioned series of paintings that remained with him until his death. His family life is covered including the artistic output of his children and grandchildren.
Two Book Offer
There is a deep discount for ordering the Henry Bone publication with my book about his employer in Bristol, Richard Champion. Both books can be purchased for an additional £16.00 over and above the price of the Kings’ Enameller (including postage). Richard Champion was a complex man, on one hand intelligent, politically astute, and enterprising, on the other hand financially irresponsible when the American independence struggle destroyed his business activities. It was his business failure that led directly to Henry Bone changing course and moving on to a stellar career to London.
Read about him here
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A selection of pages from the Kings’ Enameller are illustrated below.
