Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Forster, Thomas (fl.1695-1712)
FORSTER, THOMAS (fl. 1695–1712), limner, is known from a number of small portraits, drawn with exquisite care and feeling, in pencil on vellum. The majority of these were no doubt intended for engraving as frontispieces to books, and the following were so engraved by Michael Vander Gucht and others: J. Savage, Sir Thomas Littleton, the speaker, William Lloyd, bishop of St. Asaph, Dr. Humphry Hody, Rev. John Newte, and others. Unlike David Loggan [q. v.], Robert White [q. v.], and John Faber, sen. [q. v.], who drew portraits ‘ad vivum’ in the same style, Forster does not appear to have been an engraver himself. A number of his drawings were exhibited at the special Exhibition of Portrait Miniatures at the South Kensington Museum in 1865; they included Robert, lord Lucas, Archbishop Ussher, Sir Thomas Pope Blount, bart., Lady Blount, John, lord Somers, and Admiral Sir George Rooke. A drawing of Margaret Harcourt is in the print room at the British Museum. His portraits are highly valued.
[Redgrave's Dict. of Artists; Cat. of Special Exhibition of Miniatures, South Kensington Museum, 1865; Bromley's Cat. of Engraved British Portraits.]