Sampson Towgood Roch

Who was Sampson Towgood Roch?

Sampson Towgood Roch was an Irish painter of miniatures. The son of William and Mary Roch of Youghal, in County Cork, he was born deaf, and was mute. It is unknown with whom he studied; he may have been self-taught. By 1779 he had established himself in Dublin, and in the years following is known to have worked in England. Beginning in 1786 he lived in Cork; while there he married a distant cousin. In 1792 the couple moved to Bath, where his practice flourished. Roch returned to the family home in County Waterford in 1822; there he died in 1847. Besides painting miniatures, he also sketched scenes of Irish rural life.