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John Taylor (1739–1838)

English portrait artist (1739–1838)

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
People and ideasInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionNov 15, 2024
Entity authorityQ18878989 ↗
Source-derived summary

John Taylor (1739–1838) was an English portrait painter.

Life

Born in Bishopsgate Street, London, Taylor was the son of an officer in the customs. He studied art at the St. Martin's Lane Academy, and also under Francis Hayman. In 1766 he was one of the original members of the Incorporated Society of Artists.

Known for highly finished portraits in pencil, Taylor was from 1779 an intermittent exhibitor at the Royal Academy. Later in life he saved money by teaching in London, with the support of John Alexander Gresse and Paul Sandby. He invested in annuities to last him to the age of 100.

Taylor died in Cirencester Place, Marylebone, London, on 21 November 1838, in his ninety-ninth year. He was a friend of the sculptor Joseph Nollekens, who made a bust of him, and left him a legacy in his will.

Editorial summary

“John Taylor (1739–1838)” enters the record as english portrait artist (1739–1838). Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what John, Taylor and English can confirm, complicate or overturn.

Editorial reviewA productive starting point for separating a subject’s documented career from later reputation and commemoration. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1739, 1838, 1766, 1779—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1739-01-17. Its strongest next move is a source search built around John, Taylor and English.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

“John Taylor (1739–1838)” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, John, Taylor and English provides the most credible route into that argument.

Evidence profile

Biographical claims are most persuasive when dates, appointments and relationships can be traced to records created close to the events described. The source revision retrieved here is dated Nov 15, 2024. The linked authority identifier is Q18878989. VIAF identifies the subject as 12256024. The Library of Congress control number is nr2004010971. 1 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1739, 1838, 1766 and 1779.

Critical limits

Public reputation and documentary evidence do not always develop together; absence from a summary is not evidence of historical absence. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.

Best used for
  • Establishing names and roles
  • Building a first chronology
  • Locating cited institutions
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Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “John Taylor (1739–1838)”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow John Taylor (1739–1838) primary sources, John Taylor (1739–1838) archive and John research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “John Taylor (1739–1838)”?
  2. Which primary records establish identity, chronology and institutional ties?
  3. Which claims depend on a single source or contested interpretation?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “John Taylor (1739–1838)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.