Robert Bowyer

The first claims that he had decided to voyage to America, and before leaving wanted to obtain a portrait of himself for his fiancée, Mary Shoveller.

Bowyer probably began to train with the miniature painter John Smart in the late 1770s and exhibited his first works at the Society of Artists in 1782 and at the Royal Academy in 1783.

[1] Bowyer displayed the paintings he commissioned for Hume's work in a "Historic Gallery", sited in the Schomberg House building at 82 Pall Mall.

By 1806, Bowyer had printed five folios, covering the years up to 1688, but high costs then prevented him from completing the work.

[1] Bowyer lost as much as £30,000 on the project and in 1805, to recoup some of these costs, he followed John Boydell's route in applying to Parliament for permission to hold a lottery for the gallery contents.

[1][3][4] Even after receiving approval for the lottery, it took Bowyer a further year to ensure that two paintings by Robert Smirke and 18 engravings were completed and the sale could proceed.

[1] In addition to religious activities, Bowyer turned back to miniature portrait painting at the end of his life.