Francis Place (1647 – 1728)

• Was an English draughtsman, potter, engraver and printmaker.
• He was active mainly in York.

• He was the fifth son of Rowland Place of Dinsdale, and his wife, Catherine.

• Place entered law as his father had done.

• Place had discovered a gift for drawing and engraving through his close friend Wenceslaus Hollar. 

• About 1680 Place's interests and activities widened further as he became involved with the antiquarian group the York virtuosi.

• Place became a friend of many artists and antiquarians in and around York, including Ralph Thoresby and William Lodge.

• As a result of the Popish Plot, during one trip to Wales, Place and Lodge found themselves imprisoned as suspected Jesuit spies. 

• Place's virtuosity and enthusiasm led him to experiment with oil painting from 1680, stoneware pottery glazing, and the manufacture of porcelain from 1683.

• Only four of his marbled greyware pots are known to have survived, one of which is in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. 

• Place painted himself in oil (Arbroath collection).

• He died at his home, King's Manor, York, on 21 September 1728, aged eighty-one.

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