John Collett
1725-1780
Collett was an English satirical painter. He was born in London about 1725, the son of a gentleman. He was a pupil of Lambert, and studied at the art school in St. Martin's Lane.
He first exhibited at the exhibition of the Free Society of Artists in 1761, to which he sent three landscapes. In 1762, he exhibited with the same society "A Gipsy telling some Country Girls their Fortune."
From this time, though he occasionally exhibited landscapes, portraits, animals, and other subjects, his pictures are mainlv of a humorous description, based on the style of Hogarth, whose 'comedy in art' he strove to imitate, if not to surpass. There was a large demand for his pictures, and the engravings from them, many by first-class engravers, were published by Carington Bowles, Smith & Sayer, Boydell, and other well-known publishers.
Collett continued to exhibit with the Free Society of Artists up to 1783. His pictures give insight into manners at the end of the 18th century. In 1775, Sheridan brought out his comedy The Duenna and Collett drew pictures based on scenes in this play. One of them, representing the drinking scene in the convent (act iii. scene 5), was figured in Thomas Wright's History of Caricature and Grotesque in Art.
He inherited a fortune from a relation, and resided in Chelsea, where he died, in Cheyne Row, on 6 August 1780, and was buried there on 11 August.
Museums:
Victoria and Albert Museum.
British Museum