Painter. Nathaniel Hone the Elder, an Irish-born portrait and miniature painter of the 18th century, was one of the founding members of the Royal Academy in 1768. Born the third son of a Dublin-based Dutch merchant, he relocated to England as a young man, eventually settling in London. Nothing is documented about his earliest training as a painter. He soon acquired a reputation as a portrait-painter. While his oil paintings were popular, his reputation was particularly enhanced by his skill at producing miniatures and enamels. From 1750 to 1752, he studied his profession in Italy and was made a member of the Florence Academy. He became a prolific painter. Today, many of his paintings are on display at the National Portrait Gallery in London. Among those who sat for their portraits were Sir John Fielding, Methodist preacher John Wesley, General Richard Wilford and Sir Levett Hanson. He married and the couple had 10 children with three sons and two daughters living to adulthood. He used his son John Camillus Hone as a model in some of his paintings including the 1774 "The Spartan Boy," and his son Horace was a model also. Both sons became accomplished artists. His most controversial work was the 1775 satirical "The Conjurer," which was rejected by the Royal Academy as it "stepped on too many toes." He painted over the offending portions of the painting, yet the painting still gave hint to Sir Joshua Reynolds's alluding romance with the younger artist Angelica Kauffman. A nude caricature of Kauffman donned in black stockings in a corner was painted over, yet remains in his draft drawings of the painting. With him being a turbulent member, this was not his first painting that caused scandal at the academy but the most remembered. An early painting "Two Gentlemen in Masquerade," had well-known publisher, Francis Grose, and author, Theodosius Forrest, as capuchin Friars with one using a cross as a punch bowl ladle. Today, "The Conjurer" is on display at the National Gallery of Ireland. To show that his reputation was undamaged by his antics, he organized a one-man retrospective exhibition that was held on St. Martin's Lane in London; this is credited as the first such solo exhibition of a British artist's work. The program for the exhibition contained an apology to Kauffman. He never repeated his solo venture, exhibiting works at the Royal Academy from the following year until his death. During his career, he painted at least eight portraits of himself. Besides his sons, his great nephew Nathaniel Hone the Younger became a well-known painter.