Robert Ker Porter

Sir Robert Ker Porter, KCH (1777 – 4 May 1842) was a British artist, writer and diplomat. Known today for his accounts of his travels in Russia, Spain, Portugal and Persia, he was one of the earliest panorama painters in Britain, was appointed historical painter to Tsar Alexander I of Russia and served as British consul in Venezuela.

Early life Porter was born in Durham, England in 1777, one of the five children of the Scotsman William Porter, an army surgeon. His sisters were the writers Jane Porter and Anna Maria Porter. His father died in 1779, and the following year his mother took him to Edinburgh, although he attended Durham School. He published an account of his journey in Travels in Georgia, Persia, Armenia, Ancient Babylonia, 1817–1820. At Tehran, he had an audience with the Persian monarch Fath-Ali Shah Qajar, whose portrait he drew, and from whom in 1819 he received the Order of the Lion and the Sun.

Return to Europe He returned to England in 1841. After a short stay with his brother at Bristol, he went to visit his daughter, who had married a Russian army officer, in St Petersburg. On 3 May 1842 he wrote from St Petersburg to his brother that he was about to sail for England, but died suddenly the next day as he was returning in his droshky (carriage) from a farewell visit to Emperor Nicholas I. He was buried in St Petersburg, and a monument was erected to his memory in Bristol Cathedral.

Writings Porter, Robert Ker (1809). Letters from Portugal and Spain written during the march of the troops under Sir John Moore. London: Hurst, Rees, and Orme. Porter, Robert Ker (1809). Travelling sketches in Russia and Sweden during the years 1805, 1806, 1807, 1808. Philadelphia: Hopkins and Earle. Porter, Robert Ker (1810?). The costume of the inhabitants of Russia. London: J. Edington. Porter, Robert Ker (1815). A narrative of the campaign in Russia during the year 1812. By Sir Robert Ker Porter. Hartford: Andrus and Starr. Porter, Robert Ker (1821–22). Travels in Georgia, Persia, Armenia, ancient Babylonia, &c. &c. During the years 1817, 1818, 1819, and 1820. London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme and Brown. Porter, Robert Ker (1825–42). Sir Robert Ker Porter's Caracas Diary, 1825–1842: A British Diplomat in a Newborn Nation. Edited by Walter Dupouy. Caracas: Editorial Arte, 1966.