Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Taylor, Simon
TAYLOR, SIMON (d. 1772), botanical painter, was trained in the drawing-school of William Shipley [q. v.] About 1760 he was engaged by Lord Bute to paint the rare plants at Kew for him. John Ellis writes to Linnæus, 28 Dec. 1770: ‘We have a young man, one Taylor, who draws all the rare plants of Kew Garden for Lord Bute; he does it tolerably well: I shall employ him very soon’ (Correspondence of Linnæus, i. 255). He was also employed by John Fothergill [q. v.] He died in 1772. In 1794, after Lord Bute's death in 1792, a large collection of paintings of plants on vellum by Taylor was sold by auction. The paintings he executed for Fothergill were sold on Fothergill's death in 1780 to the Empress of Russia for 2,000l., not a high price considering that Taylor usually charged three guineas for each of his paintings. The date of his death is uncertain.
[Pilkington's Dict. of Painters; Bryan's Dict. of Painters and Engravers.]
Dictionary of National Biography, Errata (1904), p.262
N.B.— f.e. stands for from end and l.l. for last line
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| 465 | ii | 14-15 | Taylor, Simon: omit The date of his death is uncertain. |