Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 44.djvu/22

 veying his property to Patch. In Aug. 1805 it was arranged that Patch should become a real, instead of a nominal, partner in Blight's business to the extent of one-third. For this share Patch paid Blight 250l., procured from the sale of his estate in Devonshire, and promised him, by 23 Sept. 1805, 1,000l., a sum that Patch knew he had no means of obtaining. On the evening of the 23rd Patch was alone with Blight in the front parlour of the latter's house, and about 8 P.M., just after Patch had been seen to leave the room, Blight was discovered by a servant lying wounded by a pistol-shot. Blight expired the next day, and Patch was tried for his murder on 5 April 1806, at the Sessions House in Horsemonger Lane, before Lord-chief-baron Macdonald. The prisoner, who appeared dressed ‘in a handsome suit of black,’ behaved with the utmost coolness, and read a written defence. He was found guilty on clear circumstantial evidence, skilfully marshalled by the prosecution. Patch was deeply affected when visited in prison by his brother and by the sister of his deceased wife, but does not appear to have confessed the murder. He was executed on 8 April 1806 at nine o'clock, on a platform on the front of the gaol, Horsemonger Lane. A man and his wife were at the same time hanged for coining.

The case excited great interest, and numerous accounts of the trial were published, among which were shorthand reports by J. & W. B. Gurney, and by Blanchard & Ramsey (London, 1806, 8vo). A view and plan of Blight's house appeared in the ‘Lady's Magazine’ for 1806, pp. 211–16. Fairburn's edition of the trial and an account published in vol. iv. of Kirby's ‘Wonderful and Eccentric Museum’ (pp. 43–97) contain portraits of Patch, who is described (Gent. Mag. 1806, p. 375, paged ‘383’) as a man of heavy build, ‘very round-shouldered, with a short thick neck and florid complexion.’

[Gurney's Trial of Richard Patch, and other accounts of the Life and Trial of Patch, enumerated in Brit. Mus. Cat. under ‘Patch, Richard.’] 

PATCH, THOMAS (d. 1782), painter and engraver, after studying art in London, went as a young man to Italy, making his way thither, chiefly on foot, in company with Richard Dalton the artist. He arrived at Rome some time before 1750, and became a student at the academy there. He was patronised by the Earl of Charlemont and other amateurs, for whom he painted or copied pictures. His eccentric behaviour, however, drew on him the displeasure of the church authorities, and he had to leave Rome hurriedly towards the end of 1755. He then removed to Florence, where he resided until his death. When in Rome he became acquainted, and appears to have travelled in company, with Sir Joshua Reynolds [q. v.], who introduced a portrait of Patch into the caricature of ‘The School of Athens,’ drawn by Reynolds in 1751. At Florence Patch became well known among the English residents, and was a great friend of Sir Horace Mann [q. v.], who frequently recommended Patch and his works to Horace Walpole and other friends in England or on their travels. Patch was one of the first artists to discern the supreme merits of Masaccio's frescos in the Church of the Carmini at Florence. He made careful drawings of these, which are the more valuable as the original paintings were shortly afterwards seriously damaged by fire. Though Patch had no previous experience of engraving, he etched these drawings on copper, and published them in twenty-six plates in 1770 as ‘The Life of the Celebrated Painter, Masaccio,’ with a dedication to Sir Horace Mann. In 1772 he published a series of twenty-four etchings from the works of Fra Bartolommeo, dedicated to Horace Walpole; and another series from the pictures by Giotto in the Church of the Carmini, dedicated to Bernardo Manetti. In 1774 he published a set of engravings by himself and F. Gregory from Lorenzo Ghiberti's Gates of the Baptistery of San Giovanni at Florence. All these works have merit, and entitle Patch to a foremost place among the students of early Florentine art. Patch also executed a number of caricatures of English travellers and residents in Florence, including two of himself. A small ‘caricature’ painting of the bibliophile Duke of Roxburghe, by Patch, is in the National Portrait Gallery. He painted conversation pieces and landscapes. Two views of the Arno by him are at Hampton Court; and he engraved a similar view himself. He also engraved portraits of Nicolas Poussin, Sir J. Hawkwood, A. P. Bellori (after C. Maratti), some landscapes after Gaspar Poussin, &c. Patch was seized with apoplexy in Sir Horace Mann's house at Florence, and died on 30 April 1782. There are a few drawings by him in the print-room at the British Museum. His brother, James Patch, was a surgeon in Norfolk Street, London.

[Redgrave's Dict. of Artists; Doran's Mann and Manners in Florence; Hist. MSS. Comm. 12th Rep. App. x.] 

PATE or PATES, RICHARD (d. 1565), bishop of Worcester, son of John Pate by Elinor, sister of John Longland [q. v.], bishop