BIBLIOGRAPHY OF THE RYLAND CASE

I. Contemporary Authorities

1. Authentic Memoires of William Wynne Ryland. Printed for J. Ryall, No. 17 Lombard Street, 1784. Brit. Mus.

As these Authentic Memoires do not present a very lucid account, it is necessary to place the principal events of Wynne Ryland’s career in chronological order:—

Born November 2, 1733, in St John’s Street, Clerkenwell; the third son and fifth child of Edward and Mary Ryland.

Baptized December 2, at St Martin’s Church, Ludgate, where his name appears in the register as William Wynn.

Studied at St Martin’s Lane Academy—probably during the latter half of the forties.

If, as is generally stated, he served an apprenticeship of five years with Ravenet, he must have been bound to that engraver before 1750.

The second volume of Les Fables choisies de la Fontaine, with illustrations after Oudry, shows that he was in Paris in 1755. Having studied for two years under Le Bas, it would seem that he went to Boucher about 1757. According to most accounts he remained abroad for five years.

Probably he was in England in 1761, for several of his red-chalk engravings after the old master were finished during the next year.

In April 1762 he published at Lichfield Street, Soho, an engraving of George III., after Ramsay.

In February 1763 his engraving of Lord Bute, after Ramsay, was finished.

From 1763-67 he was engaged upon the portrait of George III. in his Coronation Robes, after Ramsay.

In the spring of 1765 he visited Paris on a commission for the King (v. Journal of J. G. Wille).

In 1767 he was living in Stafford Row, Pimlico.

From 1767-69 he was engaged upon the portrait of the Queen, after Cotes.

In 1767 or 1768 he entered into partnership with his late pupil, Henry Bryer, at 27 Cornhill. This firm became bankrupt in December 1771.

In 1772 he was living at Queen’s Row, Knightsbridge, and in 1773 near the Hammersmith turnpike.

In 1774 he opened his print-shop, No. 159 in the Strand.

On November 4, 1782, he deposited the forged bill on the East India Company with Messrs Ransome, Moreland & Ammersley, bankers.

On the 1st of April 1783 he fled from his home at Knightsbridge, and the advertisement offering £300 for his arrest was published in the newspapers on April 3.

2. A Catalogue of Mr Ryland’s Exhibition at Mr Pollard’s in Piccadilly. Brit. Mus.

3. Exhibition Catalogue of Incorporated Society of Artists, 1761-69. “In their Great Room in Spring Gardens, Charing Cross.” Brit. Mus.

The following were Ryland’s exhibits:—

1761.No. 215.A Print of “Jupiter and Leda,” after Boucher.
1767.No. 217.A Print of his Majesty in his Coronation Robes after Ramsay.
1769.No. 301.Two Drawings.
No. 302.One Drawing.

4. Catalogue of the Royal Academy. 1772-1775. Brit. Mus. The exhibits of Ryland, with their dates, are as follows:—

1772.No. 227.Vortigern falling in love with Rowena—after A. Kauffman.
No. 228.The interview between Edgar and Elfrida after her marriage with Athelwald—after A. Kauffman.
No. 229.A Portrait of a child drawing.
1773.No. 259.Domestic Employment—a drawing.
1774.No. 255.A Frame with sundry Portraits.
No. 256.” ” ”
1775.No. 268.Juno borrowing the Cestus from Venus. A Drawing in red chalk, after A. Kauffman.

5. Dodd’s Memoires of English Engravers, xi. pp. 104-110. Add. MSS. 33404. Brit. Mus.

6. Joseph Strutt’s Biog. Dic. of Engravers (1785-6), ii. 285. Brit. Mus.

7. A Collection of Prints in Imitation of Drawings. 2 vols. 1778. Edited by Charles Rogers. Brit. Mus.

Ryland contributed fifty-seven plates. These two volumes should be included in any collection of Ryland’s works.

8. Nichol’s Literary Anecdotes (1813). Vol. iii. 256, vol. v. 668, 681, 686.

9. Reminiscences of Henry Angelo. 2 vols. London, 1828-30. Vol. i. pp. 473-83. New Edition by Joseph Grego and H. Lavers Smith. Kegan Paul. 1904. Vol. i. pp. 366, 370-75.

Ryland was a frequent visitor at the fencing and riding school, which the elder Angelo had established at Carlisle House, Carlisle Street, and which, oddly enough, was the second building of that name in Soho Square.

10. Mémoires et Journal de J. G. Wille. 2 vols. Jules Renouard. Paris, 1857. Vol. i. pp. 287, 288.

Wille met Ryland in Paris on April 17, April 18, and May 9, 1765. He tells us that he had been acquainted with him when the English engraver was in France seven or eight years previously (i.e. in 1757-1758), which dates fit in with other known incidents of Ryland’s life.