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wrote 'Illustrations of Church Architec- ture/ which he illustrated by 200 etchings, 1841 ; ' On the Principles of Gothic Archi- tecture as Applied to Ordinary Parish Churches/ 1846; 'A Description of the Abbey Church, Tewkesbury/ 1848 ; ' Lec- tures on Architectural Principles/ and in 1854, ' Lectures on Architectural Studies.' ••PETITOT, John, enamel miniature painter. He was born in 1607, in Geneva, where his father practised as a sculptor and architect. Intended for a jeweller, in the practice of that trade, he attained great ability in the use of enamel; and united with Bordier, who afterwards be- came his brother-in-law, in its application to miniature painting ; and went with him to Italy, where they improved in their art by the help of the best chemists, and in the study of the works of the great painters. Then coming to England, he was assisted by Sir Theodore Mayerne, the chief physi- cian to Charles I., and the most distinguish- ed chemist of his day. and made great im- provements in his scale of colours, and the means of vitrifying them.
By Mayerne, who was his countryman, he was introduced to the King, who gave him employment, assigned him an apart- ment in Whitehall, ana, it is said, knighted him. The time of his arrival is unknown, but about 1640 he produced here some works which are among the finest speci- mens of his art. The civil war breaking out destroyed his prospects at the English Court, and he went to France ; some ac- counts say that he attended the royal family to raris. He was well received by the French king, who gave him a pension, with a residence at the Louvre. But he was a zealous Protestant, and on the revo- cation of the edict of Nantes, in 1685, then greatly advanced in years, he asked the king's permission to return to Geneva, but as he still continued to practise his art, the king, though pressed Dy repeated me- morials, was unwilling to part with him, and appointed Bossuet to convert him. In this position his anxiety brought on a fever, and, obtaining his liberty, he made his escape to Geneva. Here employment followed him, and so great was the number of his visitors, that ne retired to Vevay, where he died suddenly, in 1691. He had 17 children, one of whom became a major- general in the English service, and one only followed his art.
Petitot's enamels excel in all the great qualities of the art, and are unsurpassed in the beauty of their drawing, in refinement of expression, in tender sweetness of colour, and the complete mastery of materials. A large number of them are possessed in •this country.
PETITOT, John, miniature painter. Son of the foregoing, by whom he was
PET
taught the art. He settled in London, and practised with much success. His miniatures are hot in colour, and wanting in the exquisite character and finish of his father's. He died in London, and after his death his family removed to Dublin, where they were settled in 1754. An inscription on the back of one of his .
miniatures shows him to have been 35 & /C?0 t> years of age in 1685.
P E T K I E, James, portrait painter. Was a native of Aberdeen. In the latter part of the 18th century he settled in Dub-, tin, and practised his art there. In the disturbed times which ensued he was a firm loyalist; but many of the patriot party were his sitters, among them Lord Edward Fitoerald, Emmet, and Curran.
PETR1E, George, R.H.A., landscape painter. Son of the above. Was born at Dublin, in 1789, and, allowed to follow the bent of his own inclination, he adopted art, studied in the schools of the Dublin Society, and, in his 14th year, gained a silver medal He early took an interest in antiquarian studies, and in his sketching expeditions made careful notes of antiquarian remains. Up to 1809 his studies had been confined to the counties of Dublin and Wicklow. In 1810 he visited Wales, and in 1813 Lon- don, in company with Danby, A.R.A., and O'Connor. In 1816 he was an exhibitor at the Royal Academy, and for the next few years was largely engaged in landscape views, drawn chiefly in monochrome, for the. illustration of pictorial works on Ireland. These drawings were careful, and truthfully accurate, showing much poetry of treat- ment. In 1826 he became an associate of the Royal Hibernian Academy, and was a contributor to their first exhibition, held that year. In 1828 he was elected a full member, and was from that time a constant exhibitor of landscape scenery illustrating the national antiquities. In 1831 he was appointed librarian to the Academy, and the same year visited the Isles of Arran, led both by art and antiquarian tastes.
His literary tastes were indeed developed with his art, and his first essays on anti- quarian subjects were contributed to the 'Dublin Examiner ' and the 'Dublin Penny Journal ' as early as 1816 ; and, with a growing love of Irish antiquities and his- tory, literature gradually superseded art. In 1833 he became connected with the Ordnance Survey of Ireland, which, for the next six years, with little intermission, en- gaged his whole time and thought. He was placed at the head of a staff whose duty it was to collect every possible information, antiquarian and topographical, and to ex- amine and compare all ancient documents. But this work was suspended in 1839 on a question of cost, and, returning to his easel, he set vigorously to work, and produced
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