Richard Phelps was from Porlock and married to a woman named Mary. She died on 30 May 1753 and he died 12 July 1785. The couple and other family members are on a brass in Porlock Church. He had land holdings in Porlock, not far from his friend Coplestone Warre Bampfylde's estate, Hestercombe House. The Phelps family appeared in Porlock during Elizabeth I's reign, such as yeoman Robert Phelps who had been in Porlock since about 1602. A Richard Phelps painted the Ten Commandments for the Luccombe Parish Church and the Lord's Prayer for the Porlock Church in 1738.
Career
Phelps was a portrait painter. He studied under Thomas Hudson and Sir Joshua Reynolds. Phelps worked in Somerset painting portraits, restoring old master paintings, and working as an interior decorator. Correspondence by Richard Phelps is held at Penn Libraries of the University of Pennsylvania in the United States.
Artist
Richard Phelps is known for his painting of Bampfylde Moore Carew, which was engraved by Faber. He may have made the pastel work of George Frideric Handel that was exhibited in Paris in 1911. Phelps exhibited in London at The Society of Artists. Phelps was described as a "provincial Highmore" by Sir Ellis Waterhouse. The British Museum has an album of the bulk of his surviving work, which includes 312 drawings. The works include portraits of gentry, self-portraits, landscapes, genre paintings, religious studies, and grotesque figures. His drawings include George, Thomas, Mrs. Mary Carew, and Elizabeth Carew Bernard. He drew sketches of John, Thomas Popham, and Miss Popham. Some of the other people that he depicted include the Dyke Acland family members; Charles Jennens; Margaret Luttrell ; Rev. Henry Lockett; Henry Percy, 9th Earl of Northumberland; Prince Charles Edward Louis Philip Casimir, and Sir Charles Tynte, 5th Baronet. Some of the drawings are made after the works of other artists, like Rembrandt, Thomas Hudson, Joseph van Haecken. The album also included works by Alessio de Marchis and an 18th-century Bolognese artist. It previously held two works by John Vanderbank. Dovery Manor Museum exhibited paintings by Richard Phelps in 2011.
Designer
Phelps was hired by Henry Fownes Luttrell to design Conygar Tower, landscaping, and bridges for Dunster Castle. Conygar Tower is a three-storey folly built in 1775 on the top of a wooded hill overlooking the village of Dunster. It has two-stage buttresses between four pointed-arched openings on every level. He designed the 18th century Castle Mill Bridge over River Avill, which connected Dunster Castle grounds with Deer Park. The stone bridge, with two pointed arches with rock-faced voussoirs, replaced a medieval mill bridge. It was made of local stone, brick capping, and pebbles and designed with a rustic, picturesque style. There are brick parapets on the north and south side of the bridge, with a brick seat. It was listed as an English HeritageListed Building on 8 April 1983.
