Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Reader, William (fl.1680)

by Lionel Henry Cust

READER, WILLIAM (fl. 1680), portrait-painter, was a pupil of Gerard Soest [q. v.] He was the son of a clergyman at Maidstone, and was for a long time patronised by a wealthy nobleman in the west of England. He is chiefly known by a portrait of Dr. John Blow [q. v.], which was engraved in mezzotint by T. Beckett. There are no doubt other portraits by him under the names of more eminent artists. Reader died in poor circumstances as an inmate of the Charterhouse.

[Walpole's Anecdotes of Painting, ed. Wornum; Chaloner Smith's British Mezzotinto Portraits.]

L. C.