Peter Wingfield, Miniature Painter in Enamel
(b. 1718, d. 1777)
Miniature Painter in Enamel
From A Dictionary of Irish Artists 1913
Son of Richard and Ann Wingfield, of Aungier Street, Dublin, was born in 1718, being baptised in St. Peter's on the 14th December in that year. He was a watch engraver and goldsmith, and resided in Skinner Row, opposite Dick's Coffee House, until 1766 when he moved to Mabbot Street. He was made a Freeman of the Guild of Goldsmiths in 1748. In connection with his work as a watch engraver and goldsmith, Wingfield applied himself to enamelling, and in 1763 he was awarded by the Dublin Society a premium of ten guineas for two watches of transparent enamel, "not attempted here before." In 1765 he exhibited at the Society of Artists in George's Lane, "Transparent and Opaque Enamels." This led him to miniature painting, and in 1766 he exhibited three miniatures, one in enamel and two in water-colour. In 1767 he went to London, leaving his wife in Mabbot Street, where she died the following year. In London he exhibited miniatures in enamel at the Society of Artists in 1767, 1768 and 1769, and at the Royal Academy in 1772. He died in 1777.
In addition to his work as an enameller, Wingfield seems also to have been an engraver, for he engraved the ticket for admission to view the fireworks in St. Stephen's Green in 1749, for which he was paid by the Corporation £3 5s. 6d.
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