Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Jenkins, Thomas
JENKINS, THOMAS (d. 1798), painter and dealer in antiquities, a native of Devonshire, was a pupil of Thomas Hudson [q. v.] He accompanied Richard Wilson, R.A., to Italy, and settled at Rome, before 1763. He painted portraits and historical subjects with moderate success. Two copies from paintings by him, done by N. Mosman, are in the print room at the British Museum. Jenkins became the principal English banker in Rome, and the profits of this business enabled him to take an active part in the excavations at Rome during the golden age of classical dilettantism. In conjunction with Gavin Hamilton [q. v.] he supplied Townley and other great English collectors with sculpture, coins, and gems. The restoration and renovation to which Jenkins subjected antiquities have lessened for posterity the reputation which he enjoyed in his own day, when Winckelmann and other archæologists acknowledged his authority. On the occupation of Rome by the French Jenkins lost all his property, and escaped to England. He died at Yarmouth in 1798.
[Redgrave's Dict. of Artists; Nagler's Künstler-Lexikon; Michaelis's Ancient Marbles in Great Britain.]