George Engelheart was born at Kew in Surrey in October 1752. He was the son of a plaster modeller who had emigrated from Germany as a child. Engleheart enrolled as a student at the new Royal Academy Schools in 1769, where he gave his age as 16, although he was about 19. He also had additional instruction in the studio of the landscape artist George Barret, RA (1728-84). Unfortunately Barret was declared bankrupt and soon after, Engelheart moved to the studio of Sir Joshua Reynolds. There, he served an apprenticeship intermittently from 1773 until 1776, and made copies in watercolour on ivory (i.e. in miniature) of paintings by Reynolds. He made careful copies in miniature of many of the famous paintings executed by Reynolds, and in some cases, these constitute the only information we possess with regard to portraits executed by Sir Joshua which are now missing. Engelheart quickly established his reputation as a successful miniaturist and was prolific in his output. He experimented with portraits in enamel and also occasionally produced full-length coloured drawings, but few of either survives. Numerous tracings of his work survive and they appear to have been executed after the completion of individual miniatures to aid in the production of copies, if required by the client. Engelheart set up in business on his own account in 1773 and exhibited that year at the Royal Academy. His fee-book records the names of his sitters and the amount paid for each portrait. It also establishes that he painted 4,853 miniatures over his productive working life of 39 years, and that his professional income for many years exceeded the staggering sum of £1,200 a year. Although there were hundreds of artists working as miniaturists during that style’s 50-year heyday, only a dozen reached ‘master’ status, because the work demanded a steady hand and acute eyesight. Many practitioners had trouble maintaining a consistent standard over long periods of time. Engelheart was a notable exception. He produced two miniatures a week at a cost of eight to ten guineas each. His work was characterised by a romantic look, which he created by giving his sitters rather large eyes, and by using a somewhat misty finish. According to his fee-book, the year 1788 alone saw him earn the handsome sum of £2,200 from the painting and sale of 228 miniatures. During the greater part of his working life, he resided at Hertford Street in Mayfair, where he dwelt until retirement. After the death of Jeremiah Meyer (1735-89), Engelheart was appointed Miniature Painter to King George III. He painted the king a total of 25 times, and had an extensive circle of patrons, comprising nearly all the important personages connected with the court. Engelheart’s fee-book, colours, appliances and a large collection of his miniatures remain in the possession of the Engelheart family. Engelheart exhibited at the Royal Academy frequently between 1773 and 1822. His works are often signed ‘E’ or ‘GE’. The early 1780s saw the commencement of the fashion for eye pictures in England. There is much confusion over how the trend began, though almost all versions of the story involve the Prince of Wales (later King George IV) and Mrs Fitzherbert. Some sources report the style was initiated when miniaturist Richard Cosway painted the right eye of the Prince for a locket given to Mrs Fitzherbert in 1785. Other sources say that the lover’s eye originated later, when both the Prince and Mrs Fitzherbert exchanged eye miniatures set into rings, painted by Engelheart. That novelty gave the aristocratic connoisseur Horace Walpole a fit of the vapours. He wrote to the Countess of Ossory in October 1785: ‘But do you know, Madam, that the fashion now is, not to have portraits but of an eye? They say, “Lord, don’t you know it?” A Frenchman is come over to paint eyes here!’ Engleheart painted at least 27 eyes between 1783 and 1806, including those for members of the Beauchamp and Metcalf families. Engleheart retired to his country house at Bedfont in Middlesex, in 1813, where he continued to paint friends and family. He died at Blackheath in Kent in 1829 and was buried in the Engelheart family vault at Kew. His nephew John Cox Dillman Engelheart (1784-1862) was also a noted miniaturist. Examples of both their work may be found in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Engleheart’s miniature Isaac Blackburne may be seen above.