Thomas Bewick (1753-1828)
after James Ramsay (Newcastle-upon-Tyne 1786 – Newcastle-upon-Tyne 1854)
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
circa 1820
Materials
Oil on canvas
Measurements
740 x 610 mm
Place of origin
England
Order this imageCollection
Cherryburn, Northumberland
NT 530271
Caption
Thomas Bewick, born at Cherryburn, a house in the village of Mickley, Northumberland, was a renowned engraver and natural history author. He apprenticed with the glass-engraver Ralph Beilby in Newcastle upon Tyne in 1767 and became a partner in the business soon after. He is credited with popularising graphic art by employing the technical innovation in printing of using metal-engraving tools to cut hard boxwood across the grain (xylography). The result is high quality illustration with superb minute detail at a low price. He illustrated, wrote and published his own books and is especially known for A General History of Quadrupeds (1790), A History of British Birds (1797-1804) and various editions of Aesop’s Fables. This portrait is after the 1815 version by James Ramsay that is in The Natural History Society of Northumbria Great North Museum: Hancock.
Summary
Oil painting on canvas, Thomas Bewick (1753-1828), after James Ramsay (Newcastle-upon-Tyne 1786 – Newcastle-upon-Tyne 1854), circa 1820.
Provenance
Purchased, 2003
Makers and roles
after James Ramsay (Newcastle-upon-Tyne 1786 – Newcastle-upon-Tyne 1854), artist