Benjamin Clare, Seal Engraver

(b. 1771, d. 1810)

Seal Engraver

From A Dictionary of Irish Artists 1913

Was born in Dublin in 1771, the son of Robert Clare. He became a pupil in the Dublin Society's Drawing School in 1779, and in 1784 was apprenticed to John Clare, a herald-painter. He afterwards worked as a seal engraver, and is described as an artist of extraordinary talent, but idle and neglectful of his business. He was held in great estimation and, says Ryan in his "Worthies of Ireland," "most justly deserved the name of a fine artist." He died at 4 Trinity Street, Dublin, in April, 1810, aged 40. Redgrave, in his "Dictionary," mentions him erroneously as "Clarke." A WILLIAM CLARE was working, about 1814, at 84 South Great George's Street as a seal engraver.

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