My wife's ancestors - Sharp - Contents

Michael William Sharp

Michael William Sharp,
Michael Sharp,
bapt 9 May 1779, London.
He was a successful painter.
[Bio. Actors etc.] says he was also a musician.
See Wikipedia.
His family moved in 1783 to Norwich.
He went to London to study painting in 1797.
His father died 1800.
He might be Mr. Sharp, Norwich, who was a subscriber to Twelve Voluntaries for the Organ or Piano Forte, by William Russell, possibly 1804.

He mar 11 August 1804, London, to Arabella Menage ["Bella", born 5 July 1782, London].
She was an actress and dancer on the London stage.
She was from a family of dancers.
She was daughter of the dancer Antoine Menage and his wife Arabella Moore.
She acted and danced on stage in London from when she was a child in 1792.

Arabella's stage career continued until at least the 1811-1812 season.
They lived in London.
Michael painted with great success.
Arabella died London, 9 January 1817, age 34 yrs.
She was buried at the church of St George's, Hanover Square.
Michael retained his links with Norwich. He regularly stayed there and exhibited there.
He died at Boulogne in 1840.

Extract from letter of 29 Sept 1804 from Sarah Siddons to Hester Thrale.
Siddons writes about Sharp's marriage to Arabella Menage (which has already taken place).
Siddons' sister-in-law was aunt of Sharp.
From pp.76-77 of "The letters of Sarah and William Siddons to Hester Lynch Piozzi in the John Rylands Library" (1969), Kalman A. Burnim, Bulletin of the John Rylands Library, 52(1), pp.46-95.

Arabella Menage.
From here.

Arabella Menage.
Painted by her husband. Exhibited 1805.
Engraved by Freeman. Printed 1808.
From here.
See BM copy. And other copies.

"The Connoisseur" (1811), one of Sharp's best-known works.
Shows a fictionalised version of connoisseurs admiring Thomas Hope's antiquities.
See full size. From here.

Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington.
Engraving published 1828. After original painting by Michael William Sharp.
From NPG.

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References

• Michael William Sharp in [DNB]

• Vol.10 (1984) of [Bio. Actors etc.].
  • Arabella Menage on pp.189-190.

• "Memoir of Mrs. Sharp", pp.5-8 of The Monthly Mirror, July 1808.