William Russell Birch

British, 1755 - 1834

BiographyEnamel painter and engraver William Russell Birch was born in Warwickshire, England, and was apprenticed to a London jeweler, Thomas Jefferys, in 1771. Enameled objects were sold by Jefferys, and Birch soon began studying with renowned miniaturist and enamel specialist Henry Spicer (c. 1743-1804). By 1783, he had established himself as an enamel portraitist. Sir Joshua Reynolds commissioned him to copy many of his works in miniature. Birch showed enamel portraits at the Royal Academy, and in 1785, he received a medal from the Royal Society of Arts for advancing the technique. He began producing enameled landscapes by 1784, and soon was engraving landscapes. By 1791 he had engraved and published his series Delices de la Grande Bretagne. Birch immigrated to the United States in 1794, settling in Philadelphia. He is credited with popularizing the art of enamel painting in the United States. Birch made numerous portrait enamels including approximately sixty after Gilbert Stuart’s portraits of George Washington. His publication of engraved views, The City of Philadelphia as It Appears in the Year 1800, was the first such series published in the United States. It was followed by The Country Seats of the United States (1808). His son Thomas Birch was a renowned portrait and marine painter. William Birch wrote, but never published, his autobiography, which is held by the Historical Society of Pennsylvania.

Person TypeIndividual