George Cumberland (27 November 1754 – 8 August 1848) was an English art collector, writer and poet. He was a lifelong friend and supporter of William Blake, and like him was an experimental printmaker. He was also an amateur watercolourist, and one of the earliest members of the Bristol School of artists. He made use of his wide circle of connections to help its other members, in particular assisting and influencing Edward Bird and Francis Danby. Early life Cumberland, whose father was also called George, was born in London in 1754. From 1769–85 he was an insurance clerk with the Royal Exchange Assurance Corporation. In 1772 he also attended the Royal Academy Schools and exhibited at the Academy in 1782 and 1783, but failed to be elected an Associate in 1784. He formed a low opinion of the Academy and attacked it in various essays. Along with John Flaxman and Thomas Stothard, Cumberland joined the social circle of William Blake within a year of Blake becoming a student at the Royal Academy Schools in 1779. This circle also included the engraver William Sharp. The young Cumberland held radical views; with Stothard and Sharp, he joined the Society for Constitutional Information, becoming a friend of its leader, John Horne Tooke, and attracting the attention of government spies. However, when Cumberland witnessed the Gordon Riots of 1780 at first hand, he reacted with horror. Cumberland was to be a lifelong friend and supporter of Blake. As early as 1780 a contribution by Cumberland to the Morning Chronicle praised Blake's first exhibit at the Academy, the watercolour The Death of Earl Goodwin. Cumberland would often seek to provide clients for Blake, as in 1798 when he tried to persuade Tooke to use Blake as the engraver for a new edition of Tooke's book Diversions of Purleigh. Cumberland shared an interest with Blake in printmaking. In 1784 they both experimented with new methods of printing etched texts. In that year Cumberland printed an account of his "New Mode of Printing", although it does not seem to have been a practical commercial proposition. In printing his own works Cumberland would come to rely on Blake's technical advice on copperplate and lithography. Italy In 1784 Cumberland received an inheritance providing him with an annual income of £300, enabling him to leave his job. From 1785–90 he travelled in Europe, mainly living in Rome. He also visited