(bapt. Exeter, 31 Mar. 1725; d Florence, 30 Apr. 1782). English painter and engraver who lived in Italy from 1747. In Rome he first made a reputation as a view painter, especially among English tourists, but after settling in Florence in 1755 he was best known for good-humoured caricature conversation pieces and it is for these that he is chiefly remembered today. Patch knew Reynolds, who included a portrait of him in his own caricature of Raphael's School of Athens (1751, NG, Dublin), and it is uncertain who influenced whom in the genre.
Text source: The Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists (Oxford University Press)