(1782 - 1857)
Thomas Uwins was born in London; the son of a bank clerk. From 1797 he was apprenticed to engraver Benjamin Smith and entered the Royal Academy Schools the following year. Uwins initially exhibited miniatures but later concentrated on book illustrations, including several for publisher Rudolph Ackermann. He lived in Rome from 1824-32, where he became a successful portraitist and also painted Italian peasant scenes. Uwins was elected to the Society of Painters in Water Colours in 1821, having been Secretary for the Society (1813-14 and 1816-18), and became a Royal Academician in 1838, serving as the Academy's Librarian from 1844. In 1845 he was appointed Surveyor of the Queen's Pictures and, two years later, Keeper of the National Gallery.
