Edward Scriven (

Alcester Alcester () is a market town and civil parish of Roman origin at the junction of the River Alne and River Arrow in the Stratford-on-Avon District in Warwickshire, England, approximately west of Stratford-upon-Avon, and 7 miles south of Reddit ...

1775 – 23 August 1841

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, 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 dow ...

) was an English engraver of portraits, in the stipple and chalk manner. Scriven was the pre-eminent engraver of his generation, with 210 portraits ascribed to him by the National Portrait Gallery.

Life

Scriven was born in 1775 at

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Av ...

, though his name does not appear in the

parish register A parish register in an ecclesiastical parish is a handwritten volume, normally kept in the parish church in which certain details of religious ceremonies marking major events such as baptisms (together with the dates and names of the parents), ma ...

. He was for eight years a pupil of Northall (

Northaw Northaw is a village in the Welwyn Hatfield district of Hertfordshire, England. It is part of the civil parish of Northaw and Cuffley (where at the 2011 Census the population was included), which was originally known as Northaw. The parish ha ...

), Hertfordshire engraver

Robert Thew Robert Thew (1758–1802) was an English engraver. He was born in 1758 at Patrington, Holderness, Yorkshire, where his father kept an inn. He received but little education, and for a time followed the trade of a cooper; but, possessing great natu ...

. When Thew died in 1802, Scriven replaced him as Historical Engraver to the Prince of Wales. On the Prince of Wales' succession to the throne in 1820 as

George IV George IV (George Augustus Frederick; 12 August 1762 – 26 June 1830) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and King of Hanover from the death of his father, King George III, on 29 January 1820, until his own death ten y ...

Scriven was appointed Historical Engraver to the King. Early in his career he came to London to work on plates for the London publisher, John Boydell. Scriven became the eminent engraver of his generation, producing over 200 portrait engravings. He was a man of great active benevolence among the members of his profession and a leading proponent and founder of the Artists' Annuity Fund in 1810. He died on 23 August 1841 at his home at 46 Clarendon Square,

Somers Town, London Somers Town is an inner-city district in North West London. It has been strongly influenced by the three mainline north London railway termini: Euston (1838), St Pancras (1868) and King's Cross (1852), together with the Midland Railway Some ...

, leaving a widow and five children. He was buried in

Kensal Green Cemetery Kensal Green Cemetery is a cemetery in the Kensal Green area of Queens Park in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in London, England. Inspired by Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris, it was founded by the barrister George Frederick ...

, where a stone was erected to his memory by the members of the Artists' Fund. The monument was designed and created by

Charles Harriott Smith Charles Harriott Smith (1792–1864) was an English architect and architectural sculptor involved in several prestigious projects, ranging from the National Gallery to the Houses of Parliament. His iconic works include the capital of Nelson' ...

. Benjamin Phelps Gibbon and

Robert William Sievier Robert William Sievier FRS (24 July 1794 – 28 April 1865) was a notable British engraver, sculptor and later inventor of the 19th century. Engraver and sculptor Sievier showed an early talent for drawing, and studied under John Young and Ed ...

studied engraving under Scriven.

Works

Scriven worked mainly for the publishers of expensively illustrated books and serials, such as the ''British Gallery of Portraits'', (1809–17); ''Ancient Marbles in the British Museum'' (1814) ;

Henry Tresham Henry Tresham (c.1751 – 17 June 1814) was an Irish-born British historical painter active in London in the late 18th century. He spent some time in Rome early in his career, and was professor of painting at the Royal Academy of Arts in London ...

and William Young Ottley's ''British Gallery'', 1828;''The British Gallery of pictures'' .

Edmund Lodge Edmund Lodge, KH (1756–1839), herald, was a long-serving English officer of arms, a writer on heraldic subjects, and a compiler of short biographies. Life and career Lodge was born in Poland Street, London on 13 June 1756, the son of Edmund Lo ...

's ''Portraits of Illustrious Persons'', 1821–34;

Thomas Frognall Dibdin Thomas Frognall Dibdin (177618 November 1847) was an English bibliographer, born in Calcutta to Thomas Dibdin, the sailor brother of the composer Charles Dibdin. Dibdin was orphaned at a young age. His father died in 1778 while returning to En ...

's ''Ædes Althorpianæ'', 1822;

William Jerdan William Jerdan FSA (16 April 1782 – 11 July 1869), Scottish journalist, was born at Kelso, Scotland. During the years between 1799 and 1806, he spent short periods in a country lawyer's office, a London West India merchant's counting hou ...

's ''National Portrait Gallery'', 1830–4; and

Anna Jameson Anna Brownell Jameson (17 May 179417 March 1860) was an Anglo-Irish art historian. Born in Ireland, she migrated to England at the age of four, becoming a well-known British writer and contributor to nineteenth-century thought on a range of su ...

's ''Beauties of the Court of Charles II'', 1833. His few individual plates included: * ''Telemachus and Mentor discovered by Calypso'', after

Richard Westall Richard Westall (2 January 1765 – 4 December 1836) was an English painter and illustrator of portraits, historical and literary events, best known for his portraits of Byron. He was also Queen Victoria's drawing master. Biography We ...

, 1810; * A portrait of Rev. Rowland Broomhead, after Joseph Allen, 1813; * A portrait of

Thomas Clifford, 1st Baron Clifford of Chudleigh Thomas Clifford, 1st Baron Clifford of Chudleigh (1 August 1630 – 17 October 1673) was an English statesman who sat in the House of Commons from 1660 to 1672 when he was created Baron Clifford. Background Clifford was born in Ugbrooke, the so ...

, after Samuel Cooper, 1819; * ''Miranda'', after William Hilton, 1828; and * A portrait of

Edward Daniel Clarke Edward Daniel Clarke (5 June 17699 March 1822) was an English clergyman, naturalist, mineralogist, and traveller. Life Edward Daniel Clarke was born at Willingdon, Sussex, and educated first at Uckfield School"Anthony Saunders, D.D." in Ma ...

, after

John Opie John Opie (16 May 1761 – 9 April 1807) was an English historical and portrait painter. He painted many great men and women of his day, including members of the British Royal Family, and others who were notable in the artistic and literary ...

, 1828. He also engraved a set of

Benjamin West Benjamin West, (October 10, 1738 – March 11, 1820) was a British-American artist who painted famous historical scenes such as '' The Death of Nelson'', ''The Death of General Wolfe'', the '' Treaty of Paris'', and '' Benjamin Franklin Drawin ...

's studies of heads for his picture of ''Christ Rejected''. A portrait of Scriven, painted by Andrew Morton, was engraved by Benjamin Phelps Gibbon as an illustration to John Pye's ''Patronage of British Art''.

References

;Attribution

External links

* An engraving of the George Richmond's portrait of for Fisher's Drawing Room Scrap Book, 1837 with a poetical illustration by

Letitia Elizabeth Landon Letitia Elizabeth Landon (14 August 1802 – 15 October 1838) was an English poet and novelist, better known by her initials L.E.L. The writings of Landon are transitional between Romanticism and the Victorian Age. Her first major breakthrough ...

. {{DEFAULTSORT:Scriven, Edward 1775 births 1841 deaths Burials at Kensal Green Cemetery English engravers People from Somers Town, London People from Alcester