Richard Houston (1721? - 1775), was born in dublin, and became a pupil of John Brooks, who also taught James MacArdell.
When not working, he led a dissolute lifestyle that sometimes landed him in trouble. He spent some time in Fleet prison
working off money owed to a print-seller who had paid him in advance.

He worked primarily reproducing the work of the old masters, and famous contemporary paintiners, and is especially known
for his reproductions of the work of Sir Joshua Reynolds.