George Gray (427)

George Gray (1758- 9 December 1819) was a painter and a member of the American Philosophical Society, elected in 1784. Born in Newcastle upon Tyne to a Quaker family and bookbinder father, Gray was educated at the Royal Free Grammar School in Newcastle. During his youth, he apprenticed under a fruit painter in York while studying natural history. Gray seized opportunities to travel in pursuit of knowledge, joining a botanical expedition to North and South America in 1787 and then a geographical expedition to Poland in 1791. He established a portrait shop in Pudding Chare, Newcastle in 1794, and additionally worked as a drawing professor. In 1811, as a testament to his success, Gray exhibited a fruit still life painting at the Royal Academy. (DNB)