Joseph Clover (artist)


Joseph Clover was an English portrait painter and a member of the Norwich School of painters.

Life

Clover was born in 1779 in the small Norfolk town of Aylsham, where he was christened on 19 September by his parents Thomas and Ann Clover.
He started his career as an engraver, but was, according to the Norfolk Tour, advised to give up etching. According to Chambers, writing when Clover was alive in 1829, on "the advice of a gentleman of the name of Storks he took an impression of one of his plates to the late alderman Boydell in Cheapside, whose ingenious remarks on this performance discouraged him from following the profession of engraver". He was inspired to turn to portrait painting when a portraitist painted Clover's uncle. He lived in both Norwich and London. In 1806 Clover was introduced to the poet Richard Cumberland, who invited him to his house at Ramsgate and commissioned him to painted portraits. He repeated his visits during the summer months for fourteen years.
In London he was a prominent member of the Swedenborg Society, serving on its Committee for several years and appointed as one of the trustees of the Society's property in 1834. Among Clover's patrons were the Marquis of Stafford, Lord T. Levison Gower, and the Countess de Grey.

Works

Clover's paintings are held in public collections around the UK, including the Royal College of Surgeons, St. Andrew's and Blackfriars' Hall, Norwich Museums Collections at Norwich Castle, and Royal Tunbridge Wells Museum and Art Gallery.