One of a family of London engravers, of whom the father was Robert Cabbell Roffe (1780–1839) and the other four sons Alfred Thomas (1803–1871), William Callis (1817–1902), Albert Henry (1819–1891) and Edwin (1825–1891); a previous Edwin was an infant death and there were also five daughters. Their mother was Elizabeth Hazley (1781–1849, m. 1802, St Pancras). Felix was credited with some engravings, but he described himself in census returns, from 1851 on, as an ‘artist [and] painter in watercolours’. He was born at 59 Ossulston Street, Somers Town, London, and baptised on 27th March 1814 at old St Pancras church. The family had moved to no. 48 by 1825 and Alfred and Edwin were still there at the 1871 census (when it had been renumbered 135 Ossulston Street).
In 1834, Felix was awarded a Society of Arts large silver medal for ‘a copy in water-colours of figures.’ In 1841 he was in Clarendon Street (now upper Werrington Street) and in the July quarter of 1846 he married at St Pancras to Mary Coghlan (c.1816/1820–1906), artist daughter of another artist, John Coghlan and his wife Sarah. In 1851 they were at 6 Charles Street, Somers Town (now the west end of Phoenix Road) with a daughter Mary Agnes (3) and son Robert John (8 months). By 1861 they had added Alfred Joseph (then 7) and Francis Bernard (4) and were at 16 Leverton Street, Kentish Town. A final daughter, Lilian C. Roffe, was born in 1862. In 1871, at nearby 4 Falkland Road, Mary Agnes was listed as a teacher of singing and Robert John a landscape painter. On Felix’s last census appearance in 1881, at 18 Giesbach Road, Upper Holloway, he was noted as a ‘Painter (Artist) Figures’, Mary Agnes and Lilian as ‘Musician’, Robert John still a landscape painter, Alfred a ‘Painter (Artist) figures’ and Francis a ‘Sign Writer’.
Roffe was a skilled draughtsman, mainly known for making preparatory drawings for engravings by his brothers and others. Most were of three-dimensional artworks, from relief medallions to full-size statues and he was often expressly credited in reviews as artist for the resulting prints as well as on them. A number appeared in The Art Journal and other publications and in 1892 the Department of Science and Art purchased 56 drawing by him ‘of the works of eminent sculptors’, presumably for the V&A, but they do not figure in its online catalogue. He also painted watercolour figure subjects and did some work as a watercolour copyist of paintings, perhaps to assist their engraving in some cases. The National Portrait Gallery has his watercolour portrait in peer’s robes of John Singleton Copley, 1st Baron Lyndhurst (lawyer son of the painter), which was engraved by Joseph Brown, and the Russell-Cotes Art Gallery, Bournemouth, his copy of ‘Home! after service’ by Frank W. W. Topham (1879). Topham's painting was reproduced as an engraving in The Art Journal (1882) by Auguste Danse, a Belgian largely working in Brussels. This may have been done from a reduced copy but whether from Roffe's is not known.
When Roffe died at 9 Leighton Grove, Kentish Town on 27th June 1887, he was also recorded as formerly of ‘57 Barclay Street, near Clarendon Square’ (in Somers Town west of modern Chalton Street, though neither survive) and late of 81 Corinne Road, Tufnell Park. Probate on estate of £85 was granted to his widow, Mary, as sole executrix.
Graves lists Roffe’s brother, Alfred, as a ‘miniature painter’, indicating the scale of ‘Portrait of an artist’ which was his sole RA entry in 1822, submitted from 59 Ossulston Street. His ‘David’, a miniature or watercolour, was shown at the Society of British Artists in 1829 (from no. 48 Ossulston Street).
There has been past confusion of the Roffes with others of the name. John Roffe (1769–1850) was a well-known engraver of architectural subjects who had a landscape and subject-painter son, William John Roffe (1822–1901). The latter appears to have lived at the same addresses as Felix Roffe in about 1871/1872 and in 1881 (respectively 4 Falkland Road, Kentish Town, and 18 Giesbach Road, Upper Holloway). No other connection between the two families has been found, although it is possible they were very distant cousins. Another John Roffe, engraver, of whom nothing else is known, was also active between 1820 and 1861.
Roffe was a skilled draughtsman, mainly known for making preparatory drawings for engravings by his brothers and others. Most were of three-dimensional artworks, from relief medallions to full-size statues and he was often expressly credited in reviews as artist for the resulting prints as well as on them. A number appeared in The Art Journal and other publications and in 1892 the Department of Science and Art purchased 56 drawing by him ‘of the works of eminent sculptors’, presumably for the V&A, but they do not figure in its online catalogue. He also painted watercolour figure subjects and did some work as a watercolour copyist of paintings, perhaps to assist their engraving in some cases. The National Portrait Gallery has his watercolour portrait in peer’s robes of John Singleton Copley, 1st Baron Lyndhurst (lawyer son of the painter), which was engraved by Joseph Brown, and the Russell-Cotes Art Gallery, Bournemouth, his copy of ‘Home! after service’ by Frank W. W. Topham (1879). Topham's painting was reproduced as an engraving in The Art Journal (1882) by Auguste Danse, a Belgian largely working in Brussels. This may have been done from a reduced copy but whether from Roffe's is not known.
When Roffe died at 9 Leighton Grove, Kentish Town on 27th June 1887, he was also recorded as formerly of ‘57 Barclay Street, near Clarendon Square’ (in Somers Town west of modern Chalton Street, though neither survive) and late of 81 Corinne Road, Tufnell Park. Probate on estate of £85 was granted to his widow, Mary, as sole executrix.
Graves lists Roffe’s brother, Alfred, as a ‘miniature painter’, indicating the scale of ‘Portrait of an artist’ which was his sole RA entry in 1822, submitted from 59 Ossulston Street. His ‘David’, a miniature or watercolour, was shown at the Society of British Artists in 1829 (from no. 48 Ossulston Street).
There has been past confusion of the Roffes with others of the name. John Roffe (1769–1850) was a well-known engraver of architectural subjects who had a landscape and subject-painter son, William John Roffe (1822–1901). The latter appears to have lived at the same addresses as Felix Roffe in about 1871/1872 and in 1881 (respectively 4 Falkland Road, Kentish Town, and 18 Giesbach Road, Upper Holloway). No other connection between the two families has been found, although it is possible they were very distant cousins. Another John Roffe, engraver, of whom nothing else is known, was also active between 1820 and 1861.
Text source: Art Detective
