Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Pugh, Herbert
PUGH, HERBERT (fl. 1758–1788), landscape-painter, was a native of Ireland, and came to London about 1758. He was a contributor to the first exhibition of the Society of Artists in 1760, sending a ‘Landscape with Cattle.’ In 1765 he gained a premium at the Society of Arts, and in 1766 was a member of the newly incorporated Society of Artists. He continued exhibiting with them up to 1776. He tried his hand at some pictures in the manner of Hogarth, but without success, although some of these pictures were engraved. Pugh lived in the Piazza, Covent Garden. His death, which took place soon after 1788, was hastened by intemperate habits. There is a large landscape by Pugh in the Lock Hospital, and two views of London Bridge by him were contributed to the Century of British Art exhibition at the Grosvenor Gallery in 1888, when it was recognised that his work had been unduly neglected.
[Redgrave's Dict. of Artists; Bryan's Dict. of Painters and Engravers, ed. Graves and Armstrong; Graves's Dict. of Artists, 1760–1893.]