Edward Calvert (20 September 179914 July 1883) was an
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
printmaker
Printmaking is the process of creating work of art, artworks by printing, normally on paper, but also on fabric, wood, metal, and other surfaces. "Traditional printmaking" normally covers only the process of creating prints using a hand proce ...
and
painter
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ai ...
.
Edward Calvert was born in
Appledore Appledore may refer to:
Places England
* Appledore, Kent
** Appledore (Kent) railway station
* Appledore, Mid Devon, near Tiverton
* Appledore, Torridge, North Devon, near Bideford U.S.A.
* Appledore Island, off the coast of Maine In fiction
* App ...
, near
Bideford
Bideford ( ) is a historic port town on the estuary of the River Torridge in north Devon, south-west England. It is the main town of the Torridge local government district.
Toponymy
In ancient records Bideford is recorded as ''Bedeford'', ''By ...
in
Devon
Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devon is ...
, the son of Captain Roland Calvert. After a spell in the Navy he studied art at
Plymouth
Plymouth () is a port city and unitary authority in South West England. It is located on the south coast of Devon, approximately south-west of Exeter and south-west of London. It is bordered by Cornwall to the west and south-west.
Plymouth ...
and the
Royal Academy Schools
The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly in London. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its purpo ...
(1824). His early visionary work was greatly inspired by
William Blake
William Blake (28 November 1757 – 12 August 1827) was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognised during his life, Blake is now considered a seminal figure in the history of the poetry and visual art of the Romantic Age. ...
, and he became a member of the Blake-influenced group known as
The Ancients which met at
Samuel Palmer
Samuel Palmer Hon.RE (Hon. Fellow of the Society of Painter-Etchers) (27 January 180524 May 1881) was a British landscape painter, etcher and printmaker. He was also a prolific writer. Palmer was a key figure in Romanticism in Britain and p ...
's in
Shoreham, Kent
Shoreham is a village and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Sevenoaks District of Kent, England. It is located 5.2 miles north of Sevenoaks.
The probable derivation of the name is ''estate at the foot of a steep slope''. Steep slo ...
in the later 1820s and early 1830s.
Amongst Calvert's finest works are exquisite miniature
wood engraving
Wood engraving is a printmaking technique, in which an artist works an image or ''matrix'' of images into a block of wood. Functionally a variety of woodcut, it uses relief printing, where the artist applies ink to the face of the block and ...
s which date from this early period; his wood and copper engravings all date from 1827–31, but were only seen by friends until published by his son in 1893 in an edition of 350. He also made
etching
Etching is traditionally the process of using strong acid or mordant to cut into the unprotected parts of a metal surface to create a design in intaglio (incised) in the metal. In modern manufacturing, other chemicals may be used on other types ...
s. In 1844 he visited
Greece
Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...
.
Much of his subsequent life was spent with his wife Mary, in
Dalston
Dalston () is an area of East London, in the London Borough of Hackney. It is northeast of Charing Cross. Dalston began as a hamlet on either side of Dalston Lane, and as the area urbanised the term also came to apply to surrounding areas includ ...
and nearby
Hackney, a short distance from London. His work from this later period (not considered his best) shows a Classical influence.
Edward Calvert and his wife are buried at
Abney Park Cemetery
Abney Park cemetery is one of the "Magnificent Seven" cemeteries in London, England.
Abney Park in Stoke Newington in the London Borough of Hackney is a historic parkland originally laid out in the early 18th century by Lady Mary Abney, D ...
,
Stoke Newington
Stoke Newington is an area occupying the north-west part of the London Borough of Hackney in north-east London, England. It is northeast of Charing Cross. The Manor of Stoke Newington gave its name to Stoke Newington the ancient parish.
The ...
,
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
; the headstone reads ''He was welcomed in
Helicon''.
The
British Museum
The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...
has some 65 of his drawings, and about 40 prints, as well as many of the printing blocks and plates for them.
His third son,
Samuel Calvert
Samuel Wesley Calvert (September 16, 1867 – March 11, 1956) was a soldier and politician. He served as mayor of Chipman, Alberta, and as a member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta from 1935 to 1940 sitting with the Social Credit caucus i ...
, was an artist and engraver active in Australia and produced a memoir of his father in 1893.
Literature: An Unknown Artist
''The Australasian'' (Melbourne), 2 December 1893, page 36.
Notes
{{DEFAULTSORT:Calvert, Edward
1799 births
1883 deaths
Artists from Bideford
19th-century English painters
English male painters
English printmakers
English romantic painters
British engravers
British wood engravers
Burials at Abney Park Cemetery
People from Dalston
19th-century English male artists