Joseph Highmore was born in 1692. The portrait and history painter Joseph Highmore was born in an English coal merchant's family, which had already produced well-known artists, including Highmore's uncle Thomas. Thomas was a court painter to King William III of Orange. At the request of his parents, the artistically gifted Joseph studied law. He took drawing lessons with Godfrey Kneller and visited the anatomy lectures of prominent English surgeon that time, William Cheselden. In 1715 he gave up his law studies in favor of teaching as a portrait painter. Extensive art studies, which were especially made possible thanks to his marriage to the wealthy poet Susanna Hiller. The final breakthrough as a portrait painter succeed...