221 
Charles Ford was born in 1801, and died in 1870. Of a local 
family, he settled as a miniature painter in Bath, and though 
friends thought that he, a pupil and friend of Sir Thomas 
Lawrence, would have done better to seek a larger reputation in 
London, his retiring disposition made him disinclined to take 
such a step. A man of large mind and great artistic ability, he 
was the associate of such distinguished folk as Hannah More and 
Wordsworth, and many sitters of note came to his studio. The 
copy in the Holburne Museum of the famous Herschel portrait 
shows his art well, strong, dignified and rich, and the examples. 
on the table, kindly lent by his son, Mr. C. Lawrence Ford,* will 
give a good idea of his powers; and though they cannot be 
said to be his finest work, even on a cursory inspection they show 
that he must have been a true artist, a colourist of great merit, 
a fine draughtsman, and a painter whose reputation should not be 
suffered to fade. He died in 1870, seventeen years later than his. 
contemporary, Charles Foote Tayler, who was a few years his 
senior, having been born in 1797. Thanks to the great kindness 
of Mr. J. W. Morris and Mrs. Hunt I am able to show you a 
representative collection of Mr. Tayler’s facile work. As you 
will see, no artist among the many who have worked in this city 
has surpassed him in richness and brilliancy, and his miniatures. 
(many of which have been engravedt) are most lifelike. A good 
example is the portrait of Haynes Bayley, which is mounted 
in the binding of a copy of the poet’s works, a miniature of great 
beauty and interest. For many years Charles Tayler exhibited 
at the Academy. He painted both Mrs. Siddons and Fanny 
Kemble, and when he died, in 1853, Bath lost an artist of 
distinction, whose portraits, painted with extreme care and 
delicacy, can best be described in one word—brilliant. 
* Among Ford’s engraved portraits that of John Warren Howell 
should be mentioned. 
+ Mrs. Siddons, Miss Fanny Kemble, Sir Wm. Carroll, Rev. James. 
Rudge, Dr. Barlow, Mr. John Morris, etc. 
