Lemuel Francis Abbott

Lemuel Francis Abbott (c. 1760-1803) was an English artist born probably in Leicestershire. Abbott exhibited portraits at the Royal Academy of Arts in 1788, 1789, 1798, and 1800. His certain portraits are all of male sitters, many of them naval officers. In 1798, the year in which he was an unsuccessful candidate for Associateship of the Royal Academy, Abbott became insane, allegedly as a result both of his failure to keep up with his work and because of domestic disquiet. He was certified in 1801. He seems to have been attended by Dr. Thomas Monro, a specialist in insanity and patron of many young artists, whose portrait he exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1800. Abbott died in London on 5 December 1802.