Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Clarke, Theophilus
CLARKE, THEOPHILUS (1776?–1831?), painter, is stated to have been born in 1776. He was a student at the Royal Academy, and also enjoyed the privilege of being John Opie's pupil. He first exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1795, sending ‘Una—from Spenser's Faery Queene,’ and ‘A Shepherd Boy.’ He continued to exhibit annually up to 1810, after which year all trace of him is lost. In 1803 he was elected an associate of the Royal Academy. The bulk of his work consisted of portraits, among those exhibited being portraits of Charles Kemble, the Countess of Erne, Lieutenant-colonel and Lady Caroline Stuart-Wortley, Lord and Lady Mulgrave, Count Woronzow, and others. He also painted and exhibited landscapes, fishing, domestic, and fancy subjects. Among these were ‘Dorothea—from Don Quixote,’ exhibited in 1802, and engraved in mezzotint by William Say; ‘The Lovers’ and ‘The Pensive Girl,’ from Thomson's ‘Seasons;’ ‘Margate, fishing boats going out;’ ‘A view of the common fields at Hayes, Middlesex.’ He also exhibited occasionally at the British Institution. Clarke resided in London, but the date of his death is unknown. His name was on the list of associates till 1832.
[Redgrave's Dict. of English Artists; Graves's Dict. of Artists, 1760–1880; Sandby's Hist. of the Royal Academy; Ottley's Dict. of Recent and Living Painters; Royal Academy Catalogues.]