English family of artists. William Tomkins (b c. 1730; d London, 1 Jan 1792) was a landscape painter, known for his views of country houses. He exhibited frequently, becoming an ARA in 1771. His son Charles Tomkins (b London, 1757; d 1823) began as a topographical painter, exhibiting 1773–9. He later took up aquatint: among other works, he drew and engraved Eight Views of Reading Abbey (1791; A1952, 290) and 80 views for a Tour to the Isle of Wight (1794–6; A1953, 344). William’s younger son Peltro William Tomkins (b London, 1760; d London, 22 April 1840) entered the Royal Academy Schools in 1775. He trained as a stipple engraver under Francesco Bartolozzi, who allowed him to sign some plates while he was still a pupil and regarded him as one of his worthiest successors: his large plates, such as Prince Arthur’s Vision (1788), in the first number of Thomas Macklin’s British Poets, are excellent. The pupils Tomkins took for drawing included the daughters of George III; in 1793 he was appointed Historical Engraver to Queen Charlotte (1744–1818). His major project during the 1790s was a grand edition of James Thomson’s The Seasons (1793–8; A1953, 252), with stipple engravings after William Hamilton (ii) by Bartolozzi and himself. Between 1795 and 1823 he was established as a print-seller in London but lost heavily on The Marquis of Stafford’s Pictures (4 vols, 1818; A1953, 210) and the British Gallery (1818; A1953, 209). An Act of Parliament was obtained for a lottery of the pictures painted for these works and the more than 16,000 prints made from them. Two other artists believed to belong to this family were Charles Algernon Tomkins (b London, 1821; d c. 1903), a prominent reproductive engraver, mostly in mezzotint, and his son CHARLES JOHN TOMKINS, likewise an engraver.