Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Shepherd, George
SHEPHERD, GEORGE (fl. 1800–1830), watercolour-painter, enjoyed a considerable reputation in his day as a topographical artist, painting views in various parts of England, but chiefly in the metropolis. He exhibited at the Royal Academy from 1800 to 1829, and with the Society of British Artists from 1827 to 1830, when his name disappears. Shepherd was one of the draughtsmen employed upon Clarke's ‘Architectura Ecclesiastica Londini, or Graphical Survey of the Churches of London, Southwark, and Westminster,’ 1819; Wilkinson's ‘Londina Illustrata,’ 1808; Ireland's ‘History of the County of Kent,’ 1829–30; ‘The Architectural Antiquities of Great Britain;’ and ‘Beauties of England and Wales.’ He also drew some of the illustrations to the ‘European Magazine.’ The Crace collection of London topography, now in the British Museum, contains many of his drawings.
George Sidney Shepherd (d. 1858), his son, practised watercolour-painting in the same style, but his works were more artistic in treatment; they were mainly topographical views, but also included rustic subjects and still life. He exhibited at the Royal Academy and Suffolk Street from 1830 to 1837, and with the New Watercolour Society, of which he was elected a member in 1833, from that year until his death in 1858.
Thomas Hosmer Shepherd (fl. 1825–1840), probably a brother of George Sidney Shepherd, painted exclusively views of streets and old buildings in London and other cities, which he executed with great truth and accuracy. He drew the whole of the illustrations for the following topographical works: ‘Metropolitan Improvements, or London in the Nineteenth Century,’ 1827; ‘London and its Environs in the Nineteenth Century,’ 1829; ‘Modern Athens displayed, or Edinburgh in the Nineteenth Century,’ 1829; ‘Views of Bath and Bristol,’ 1829–31; ‘London Interiors, with their Costumes and Ceremonies,’ 1841–3; and ‘A Picturesque Tour on the Regent's Canal.’ Shepherd was largely employed by Frederick Crace [q. v.] in making watercolour views of old buildings in London previous to their demolition, and some hundreds of these are in the Crace collection in the British Museum.
[Redgrave's Dict. of Artists; Universal Cat. of Books on Art; exhibition catalogues.]