Francis Cotes (1726 – 1770),

• Was an English painter.
• Cotes was a founding member of the Royal Academy in 1768.
• He was born in London, the eldest son of Robert Cotes.
• Francis's younger brother Samuel Cotes also became an artist.
• Cotes trained with portrait painter George Knapton before setting up his own business in his father's business premises in London's Cork Street.
• An admirer of the pastel drawings of Rosalba Carriera, Cotes concentrated on works in pastel and crayon.
• After pushing crayon to its limit as a medium Cotes turned to oil painting as a means of developing his style in larger-scale works.
• In his most successful paintings, particularly those of the early 1760s, the oil paint is thinly applied, in imitation of his pastel technique, and imbued with charm, inviting comparisons with Allan Ramsay and Sir Joshua Reynolds.
• In 1763, he bought a large house (later occupied by George Romney) in Cavendish Square.
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