Jeremiah Meyer

Jeremiah Meyer (born Jeremias Majer; 18 January 1735 – 19 January 1789) was a German-born British painter who specialised in portrait miniatures. He was Painter in Miniatures to Queen Charlotte, Painter in Enamels to King George III and was one of the founder members of the Royal Academy.

Early life and education

Meyer was born in Tübingen as a son of the German painter Wolfgang Dietrich Majer. On 20 October 1750 he was brought to England by his father. He certainly received his first artistic instructions from his father, but his aunt, Anna Katharina Majer, also taught the young and talented Meyer, particularly in the art of etching. In London, Jeremiah Meyer is said to have worked in George Michael Moser's workshop to earn some money. He decorated lockets and jewellery boxes with enamel and was also able to take drawing lessons from Moser, who was one of the most sought-after drawing teachers. Moser's workshop was also famous as a meeting place for German painters. This also enabled Jeremiah Meyer to make progress in the language. Jeremiah Meyer quickly came to St Martin's Lane Academy to study drawing and most likely learned miniature painting from Gervase Spencer. In 1757–8, Meyer studied enamel painting with Christian Friedrich Zincke, paying £400 for tuition and materials. In 1760 and 1764 Meyer exhibited enamels with the Society of Arts. In 1761 he was awarded a gold medal prize of £20 by the Society of Artists for a portrait of the king in profile, drawn from memory, engravings from this by James MacArdell and others were very popular.

His name has often been associated with the head of the king used on coinage. It is not certain that his work was used on coins minted in Britain, but his profile of George III was used on a pistole of 1767 for the Electorate of Brunswick-Lüneburg.

Personal life Meyer was naturalised in 1762. In 1763 he married Barbara Marsden, an artist from childhood, and lived for many years at various addresses in central London, including 13 and 9 Tavistock Row in Covent Garden with a view of the market place. Further Meyer residences—flats and houses—have been documented in South Molton Street, Grosvenor Street and, later, Hackney Road and since 1770 a notable estate in Kew Green. They had eleven children together, of whom seven, three sons and four daughters, reached adulthood.

Since 1770 he retired to Kew and lived with his family in an estate of four houses on the north side of Kew Green, for many years simply known as 'Meyer's House'. The adjacent road leading from Kew Green to the River Thames, now 'Ferry Lane', was known as 'Meyer's Alley' for over a century after Meyer's death. The house is now known as 'Hanover House'. It was Grade II listed in 1950 and forms part of the Herbarium of Kew Gardens.

Jeremiah Meyer was buried in St Anne's Churchyard, in Kew Green. His grave was next to that of his Academy colleague and friend, Thomas Gainsborough, at whose funeral five months earlier Meyer had been one of the pallbearers. Meyer was survived by three daughters and another son, William, and his widow, who remained at the house until her death on 18 April 1818.