Charles Rogers (collector)

Born on 2 August 1711, he was second surviving son of William and Isabella Rogers of Dean Street, Soho, London.

[2] Townson left his estate to Rogers in 1740, a bequest which included a house at 3 Laurence Pountney Lane, London, containing a museum of art treasures.

[1] Through his friend Arthur Pond, Rogers was elected Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London on 23 February 1752, and served on its council.

[1] The major work by Rogers was a series of facsimiles of original drawings from the masters, "engraved in tint" (mezzotint or aquatint, probably with etching).

The book was issued in 1778, with the title A Collection of Prints in Imitation of Drawings … to which are annexed Lives of their Authors, with Explanatory and Critical Notes, 2 vols.

The 112 plates were engraved mainly by Francesco Bartolozzi, William Wynne Ryland, James Basire, and Simon Watts, from drawings some of which were in Rogers's own collection.

[7] From the collection of Niccolò Gabburri, there were facsimiles of drawings that Rogers had acquired, in the 1762 sale by the dealer William Kent.

[1] He published a catalogue of the Rogers collection in 1836; also on Plympton Erle and the family background of Joshua Reynolds, and Totnes; and was a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries.

[15] The collection included four portraits by Sir Joshua Reynolds, about five thousand prints, a few fine examples of early typography, illuminated manuscripts of the fifteenth century, carvings, models, casts, bronzes, and medals.