Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Carter, George
CARTER, GEORGE (1737–1794), painter, was born at Colchester, and baptised on 10 April 1737 at St. James's Church in that town. He is described in the register as son of George and Elizabeth Carter. He received his early education at the local free school and first came to London as a servant. He then became shopman to a mercer of the name of King; and subsequently entered into partnership in the same trade in Chandos Street, Covent Garden. This business proving a failure, he devoted himself to painting, and sent several pictures to the exhibitions.
Having gained the interest and assiatance of other artists, he started on a course of foreign travel, eventually settling down at Rome to study and form his style. In 1778 he returned to London and set up as an 'historical portrait painter.' He exhibited numerous pictures on various subjects at the exhibitions up to a few years before his death. They do not seem to have found purchasers or suited the taste of the public, for in 1786 Carter opened an exhibition in Pall Mall of a collection of his own pictures, thirty-five in number; these he described in a Catalogue in very extravagant terms, which elicited great hostility from his critics and much derision from the public. He stated that they were all painted without commission and for the most exalted motives, and that, either the whole or any part of the collection was at the disposal of any intending purchaser. Though grandiose in conception, and 'of varying excellence of execution, his pictures do not seem to merit the lack of approbation which was their lot. Like many others of the same date and school their memory is preserved by the firat-class engravers of that period, most of them being engraved at the artist's own expense.
Among the best known of his works are; 'The Fisherman going out' and 'The Fisherman's Return,' both exhibited at the Society of Artists in 1773, and engraved in mezzotint by John Jones; 'A Wounded Hussar on the Field of Battle,' exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1775, and engraved in mezzotint by Valentine Green; 'Industry' and 'Indolence,' both engraved in mezzotint by John Jones; 'The Apotheosis of Garrick,' with portraits of contemporary actors, exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1790, and engraved in 1783 by S. Smith and J. Caldwall ; 'The Death of Sir Philip Sidney,' engraved in mezzotint by John Jones; 'The Death of Captain Cook,' intended as a pendant to West's 'Death of General Wolfe,' and engraved by Hall, Thornwaite, and J. R. Smith; 'Two Children begging,' exhibited at the Society of Artists in 1774, and engraved in mezzotint by J. R. Smith; 'The Adoration of the Shepherds,' brought by the artist from Rome in 1776, exhibited at the Royal Academy, and presented by the artist to his native church of St. James at Colchester, where it atill hangs. He also painted among many others some scenes from Sterne's 'Sentimental Journey,' some views of 'Gibraltar,' two scenes from Shenstone's 'Schoolmistress,' and numerous portraits. Later in life he retired to Hendon, and in 1791 published 'A Narrative of the loss of the Grosvenor, East Indiaman,' with plates. He died at Hendon in 1794, and was buried there on 19 Sept. in that year.
[Redgrave's Dict, of English artists; Edward's Anecdotes of Painters; Heineken's Dictionnaire des Artistes, vol. iii.; Fiorillo's Geschichte der Mahlerey in Gross-Britannien; Catalogues of the Royal Academy and other Exhibitions; Morant's History and Antiquities of Colchester; Registers of St. James's Church, Colchester, and of Hendon Church; Brit. Mus. Cat. of Printed Books.]