Robert Bowyer (/ˈboʊjər/; bap. 18 June 1758 – 4 June 1834) was a British miniature painter and publisher.
Bowyer was born in Portsmouth to Amos and Betty Ann Bowyer and baptized on 18 June 1758. His first job was as a clerk to a merchant in Portsmouth and then London. Two different accounts of his career shift survive. The first claims that he had decided to voyage to America, and before leaving wanted to obtain a portrait of himself for his fiancée, Mary Shoveller. Unable to afford to commission one, he painted one himself and eventually gave up the idea of going to America and became a miniaturist. The second claims that he was simply looking for a job and decided to paint. On 14 July 1777, Bowyer married Shoveller; the couple had one daughter.
