Katherine Read (1723 - 1778)

• Was a Scottish artist.
• Read was born in Dundee, Scotland on 3 February 1723.

• She received her education from Maurice Quentin De La Tour in Edinburgh. 

• From 1760 she exhibited almost annually with either the Incorporated Society of Artists, the Free Society of Artist, or the Royal Academy. 

• During Jacobite rising her family fleeing to France and later she fled to Rome in 1750. 

• While there, she became friends with members of the Roman Catholic Church.

• One of these faithful patrons, Cardinal Albani, allowed Read to copy some of the portraits he owned by Rosalba Carriera. 

• She decided to venture to England in 1753.

• Her work was shown by the Free Society and the Society of Artists, of which she became an honorary member in 1769. 

• In 1771, she went to India to paint the portraits of the English officers living there.

• She is reported as being in that country in 1775 and 1777, and as dying at sea near Madras.   

• Next