William Hoare of Bath, RA (c. 1707 – 12 December 1792) was an English painter and printmaker, co-founder of the Royal Academy noted for his oil portraits and pastels. Born in Suffolk, England, Hoare received a gentleman’s education. Because he showed a marked aptitude for drawing, he was sent to London to study art under Giuseppe Grisoni, who had left Florence for London in 1715. When Grisoni returned to Italy in 1728, Hoare went with him, travelling to Rome and continuing his studies under the direction of Francesco Imperiali. He remained in Rome for nine years, returning to London in 1737/8. Failing to successfully establish himself in London, Hoare settled in Bath, then a growing and fashionable spa town popular with the upper classes. He obtained numerous commissions, the most important being for official portraits of social leaders of the day (including the great composer George Frideric Handel) and political notables, including Prime Ministers Robert Walpole and William Pitt). Because several versions of many of his oil portraits exist, it suggests that he employed assistants in his studio, and his portraits were further publicized in mezzotints by leading engravers. Hoare himself was a delicate etcher and published a number of private plates, mostly of family and friends. His popular portraits in pastels were influenced by the celebrated Italian pastellist Rosalba Carriera. Hoare was the first portrait painter to settle in Bath, and he remained fashionable as the leading portraitist there until the arrival of Thomas Gainsborough in 1759. He continued to be the favorite of his powerful patron the Duke of Newcastle, his family, followers, and political associates. Included amongst his other important patrons were the Earls of Pembroke and Chesterfield, and the Duke of Beaufort. Along with Thomas Gainsborough and Joshua Reynolds, Hoare was a founding member of England's Royal Academy of Arts, in London, 1770. The Academy's royal patron, George III, specifically asked that Hoare be included among the founding members. Hoare was closely involved with the running of the Royal Mineral Water Hospital in Bath from 1742. He served as a governor of the hospital and became acquainted with Bath's notable visitors and the neighboring landed families. Chalmers described him as 'an ingenious and amiable English painter'. He died at Bath on 12 December, 1792. His son, Prince Hoare, achieved fame as a painter and dramatist. The present drawing is one of the earliest from an album compiled in the artist's family and descended through his son Prince Hoare to Lady Frankland Lewis; it was later owned by the painter and president of the Royal Academy of Arts Sir Charles Eastlake (1793-1865).