Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Collyer, Joseph (1748-1827)
COLLYER, JOSEPH (1748–1827), the younger, engraver, born in London on 14 Sept. 1748, was the son of Joseph Collyer (d. 1776) [q. v.] and Mary Collyer (d. 1763) [q. v.] Joseph Collyer, the son, studied for a short time under the engraver Anthony Walker, and applied himself to book illustrations with success. He attracted the notice of Alderman Boydell [q. v.], and was employed to make an engraving after David Teniers. In 1761 he received a premium from the Society of Arts; about nine years later he entered the Royal Academy, where he exhibited for the first time in 1770. He was admitted as a student in 1771. Sir Joshua Reynolds allowed Collyer to reproduce two of his paintings, ‘Venus’ and ‘Una,’ both engraved in the chalk manner. One of his large plates, published in 1784, was ‘The Volunteers of Ireland' after F. Wheatley. In 1786 he was elected an associate engraver, and appointed engraver to Queen Charlotte. In 1815 he was master warden of the Stationers’ Company. Among his engraved portraits may be mentioned those of the Princess of Wales and the Princess Charlotte (1799); George, duke of Montagu (1793); Sir Charles Grey, K.B. (1797); Sir Joseph Banks (1789); Kien Long, emperor of China (1796); Thomas Newton, bishop of Bristol; Miss Palmer (1785); William Whitehead (1787); Paul Whitehead (1776); and Sir William Young. Collyer also engraved the illustrations to Hervey's ‘Naval History,' besides several plates after Rooker. He last exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1822, and died on 24 Dec. 1827.
[Redgrave's Dict. Of Artists of the English School, Lond. 8vo, 1878; Gent. Mag. 1828, i. 184; Graves Dict. of Artists.]