The New International Encyclopædia/Knight, John Prescott

KNIGHT, John Prescott (1803-81). An English portrait painter, born at Stafford. After studying privately, he entered the Royal Academy as a student in 1823, and exhibited two portraits there the following year. In 1828 his “Whist Party” and “List, ye Landsmen” were hung at the British Institution. In 1835 he appeared with “Tam o' Shanter” at the Royal Academy, of which he became an associate in 1836, and professor of perspective (1839-60). From such subjects as “The Pedlar” (1831); “Auld Robin Gray” (1829 and 1833); and “Sunset” (1834), he returned to portraits in large groups, such as the “Waterloo Banquet” (1842) and “Peninsular Heroes” (1848), as well as single portraits of the “Duke of Wellington” for the London City Club, “Duke of Cambridge” for Christ's Hospital, and “Sir George Burrows” for Saint Bartholomew's Hospital. He was secretary of the Royal Academy (1848-73), and exhibited there for the last time in 1878, “A Sandy Hillside.”