Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 36.djvu/133

 same effect in the name of Edward III (ib. ii. 757). But nothing came of these requests, and the miracles soon ceased.  MARCHANT, NATHANIEL (1739–1816), gem-engraver and medallist, was born in Sussex in 1739. He became a pupil of Edward Burch, R. A. [q. v.], and in 1766 was a member of the Incorporated Society of Artists. He went to Rome in 1773, and remained there till 1789, studying antique gems and sculpture. He sent impressions from ancient intaglios to the Royal Academy from 1781 to 1785, and was an exhibitor there till 1811. He was elected associate of the Royal Academy in 1791, and academician in 1809. He was also a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, and a member of the Academies at Stockholm and at Copenhagen. He was appointed assistant-engraver at the Royal Mint in 1797, and held the office till 1815, when he was superannuated (, Annals, i. 45; Numismatic Journal, ii. 18). The portrait of George III on the 3s. bank token was engraved by Marchant from a model taken by him from life. Marchant died in Somerset Place, London, in April 1816, aged 77. His books, which related chiefly to the fine arts, were sold by Cochrane in London on 13 and 14 Dec. 1816.

Marchant had a high and well-merited reputation as a gem-engraver. His productions are intaglios, and consist of portraits from the life, and of heads, figures, and groups in the antique style. King praises the delicacy of his work, but remarks that it was done with the aid of a powerful magnifier, and that consequently it is often too minute for the naked eye. Merchant's signature is 'Marchant' and 'Marchant F. Romee.' He published by subscription, in 1792, 'A Catalogue of one hundred Impressions from Gems engraved by Nathaniel Marchant,' London, 4to, to accompany a selection of casts of his intaglios. A number of his works are described in Raspe's 'Tassie Catalogue' (see the Index of Engravers). Various intaglios by him are in the British Museum, but many of his choicest pieces were made for the Marlborough cabinet, and among these may be mentioned his 'Hercules restoring Alcestis to Admetus,' a commission from the elector of Saxony, and a present from him to the Duke of Marlborough. The duke sometimes specially sent fine stones to Rome to be engraved by Marchant. The prince regent (George IV) appointed Marchant his engraver of gems. King mentions as one of his best performances an engraving on a brown sard of two female figures, one reclining on a sofa. For this Marchant is said to have received two hundred guineas.  MARCHI, GIUSEPPE FILIPPO LIBERATI (1735?–1808), painter and engraver, was born in the Trastevere quarter of Rome, and there, when at the age of fifteen, came under the notice of Sir Joshua Reynolds, whom he accompanied to England in 1752. He studied in the St. Martin's Lane Academy, and became Reynolds's most trusted assistant, being employed to set his palette, paint his draperies, make copies, and sit for attitudes. The first picture painted by Reynolds when he settled in London was a portrait of young Marchi in a turban, which was much admired at the time, and engraved by J. Spilsbury in 1761; it is now the property of the Royal Academy. Marchi did not reside with Reynolds until 1764, when the following entry occurs in one of the latter's diaries: 'Nov. 22, 1764. Agreed with Giuseppe Marchi that he should live in my house and paint for me for one half-year from this day, I agreeing to give him fifty pounds for the same.' Marchi took up mezzotint engraving, and from 1766 to 1775 exhibited engravings, as well as an occasional picture with the Society of Artists, of which he was a member. His plates, which, though not numerous, are of excellent quality, include portraits of Miss Oliver (1767), Miss Cholmondeley (1768), Mrs. Bouverie and Mrs. Crewe (1770), Oliver Goldsmith (1770), Mrs. Hartley (1773), and George Colman (1773), all after Reynolds, and that of Princess Czartoriska (1777), from a picture by himself. Marchi was a clever copyist, but did not succeed in original portraiture; he tried at one time to establish himself at Swansea, but soon returned to the service of Sir Joshua, with whom he remained until the painter's death. Subsequently he was much employed in cleaning and restoring paintings by Reynolds work for which his intimate knowledge of the artist's technical methods