Peter Toms (painter)

Peter Toms RA (fl. 1748, died 1 January 1777) was an English drapery painter, i.e. a painter specialising in depicting drapery for the works of other artists. He was a founding member of the Royal Academy.

Peter Toms by Zoffany

Life
Portrait of Lady Elizabeth Keppel, by Reynolds, the dress painted by Toms.

Toms was the son of an engraver, William Henry Toms, of Masham Street, Westminster.[1] Apprenticed to the portraitist Thomas Hudson,[2] he became a drapery-painter, and worked for Francis Cotes for several years. After Cotes' death, he was employed by Sir Joshua Reynolds, Benjamin West and John Zoffany amongst others.[1] He also held the post of Port Culis Pursuivant. at the College of Heralds.[1]

According to Edward Edwards:

Among the pictures which he did for Sir Joshua, are some very excellent; and candour must allow, that many of Sir Joshua's best whole-lengths are those, to which Toms painted the draperies: Among these was the picture of Lady Elizabeth Keppel, in the dress she wore as bride-maid to the Queen ; for which he was paid the sum of twelve guineas, a very slender price in proportion to the merit of the piece, but Sir Joshua was not remarkably liberal upon these occasions, of which circumstance Mr. Toms did not neglect to complain.[3]

James Northcote called Toms a very good drapery painter but deemed his rather heavy manner not to be in harmony with Reynolds' style.[4]

Toms was a founding member of the Royal Academy in 1768.[5] He exhibited three works at the academy: "An allegorical picture". in 1769, "A portrait; half length" in 1779 and "The burdock and other wild plants; a specimen of a work to be published" in 1771.[6]

Despite his success as a drapery painter, his heavy drinking and a lack of prudence in other respects, kept him poor, and prevented his advancement in the College of Heralds. He made a failed suicide attempt by cutting his own throat. He survived for several years, dying in poverty at his lodging in Rathbone Place in London, on 1 January 1777.[1] He was buried in the cemetery of St. Giles-in-the-Fields.[1]

He married Mary, daughter of Robert Hogg, of Kincardine. She died about three years before him, and was buried at Marylebone, the parish in which he lived many years.[1]

References
  1. Noble, Mark (1804). A history of the College of arms, and the lives of all the kings, heralds, and pursuivants. With a preliminary dissertation relative to the different orders in England. p. 442.
  2. "Peter Toms (active circa 1748-died 1777), Painter and herald". National Portrait Gallery. Retrieved 18 March 2022.
  3. Edwards, Edward (1808). Anecdotes of painters who have resided or been born in England: with critical remarks on their productions. London: Luhe Hanford & Sons. p. 54.
  4. Northcote, James (1819). The Life of Sir Joshua Reynolds : Comprising Original Anecdotes of Many Distinguished Persons, His Contemporaries; and a Brief Analysis of His Discourses. Vol. 2. London: Henry Colburn. p. 28.
  5. "Peter Toms, RA". Royal Academy. Retrieved 18 March 2022.
  6. Graves, Algernon (1905). The Royal Academy: A Complete Dictionary of Contributors from its Foundations in 1769 to 1904. Vol. 8. London: Henry Graves. p. 6.

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