(c.1736 - c.1813), draughtsman, architect, decorative designer and architectural publisher.
1760 - 3 see James Adam
A draughtsman in the office of John Adam in Edinburgh by the late 1750s, George Richardson was sent to London to work for Robert on the latter's return from Italy. Robert Adam recommended his brother James to take a Scottish draughtsman with him on his impending grand tour, the Scots being 'more faithful and in every way preferable to the English if well chosen,' and James duly took Richardson with him to Italy in 1760.
In Adam's company Richardson certainly visited Turin and Venice and went on the expedition to Pola in Istria. Adam appears to have sent him, with Giuseppe Sacco, a Veronese draughtsman, to Florence, where Adam eventually brought together his whole team (otherwise consisting of Cl?risseau, young Zucchi, Domenico Cunego, and Agostino Scara). The party arrived in Rome on 24 February 1761. In August 1761 Richardson made formal complaint to Adam of Cl?risseau's behaviour and disloyalty,1 an affair which was apparently mended. From Rome Richardson described his hopes and experiences to Archibald Shiells, a Midlothian patron.2 Despite his difficulties with Cl?risseau, Richardson remained loyal, although he was well aware of his master's defects - he was both mean with allowances and secretive concerning his intentions.3 There were obvious compensations: 'as Mr Adam intends to do such great operations in this City it pleases me much that our residence will be so long fix'd in such a proper place for the improvement of our Studys', he wrote. He was, however, disappointed that Adam's scheme for a voyage to Greece, Asia Minor and the Levant came to nothing, 'for if we had compleated such a Grand Tour it must certainly have afforded great entertainment, improv'd Taste, & promis'd considerable advantages'. He was possibly the Richardson who assisted Thomas Jenkins in a dispute over pictures Jenkins had sold to Lord Fordwich (later 3rd Earl Cowper) in the autumn of 1760.4
1. Fleming, Adam, 285 - 6. 2. I.G. Brown in Scottish Architects Abroad, 29 - 40 (letters of 11 Jul., 16 Oct. 1762). 3. Fleming, Adam, 377n. 4. Swinburne MSS, 106:554/17 (R. Strange, 7 Aug. 1762).
I.G. B.