ohn Inigo Richards
(London 1731 - London 1810)
A View of St. James’s Park with Westminster Abbey beyond
Biography
John Inigo Richards was born in London in 1731. He studied art at the St Martin’s Lane Academy in London, where he was a pupil of George Lambert (1700-65), and from 1759 Richards was employed as a scenery painter at Covent Garden Theatre, working as the principle painter from 1777 to 1803. From 1762, Richards exhibited landscapes and ruin pieces at the Society of Artists of Great Britain, as well as a scene from a stage setting for the Maid of the Mill, which achieved great popularity. Richards exhibited at the Free Society of Artists from 1769 to 1783. Additionally when The Royal Academy was established in 1768, Richards was a Foundation Member. In 1786 Richards was appointed Secretary of the RA. He died in London on 18 December 1810. His collection of paintings, drawings and prints was sold in March 1811. Included in the sale were many of his own works, along with pictures by, or attributed to Poussin, Rembrandt, Rubens and Zoffany, and various 17th-century Dutch paintings. The drawings included a sketchbook and loose sketches by Reynolds.