Edward Scriven ( Alcester 1775 – 23 August 1841

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 ...

) 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 National Portrait Gallery may refer to: *National Portrait Gallery (Australia), in Canberra *National Portrait Gallery (Sweden), in Mariefred *National Portrait Gallery (United States), in Washington, D.C. *National Portrait Gallery, London, with s ...

Life

Scriven was born in 1775 at Alcester,

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-Avon an ...

, though his name does not appear in the parish register. 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 had ...

), Hertfordshire engraver Robert Thew. 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, 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. 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 Edwa ...

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 William Young Ottley (6 August 1771 – 26 May 1836) was a British collector of and writer on art, amateur artist, and Keeper of the Department of Prints and Drawings at the British Museum. He was an early English enthusiast for 14th- and 15t ...

'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's ''Ædes Althorpianæ'', 1822; William Jerdan'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 sub ...

'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, after

Samuel Cooper Samuel or Sam Cooper may refer to: *Samuel Cooper (painter) (1609–1672), English miniature painter *Samuel Cooper (clergyman) (1725–1783), Congregationalist minister in Boston, Massachusetts * Samuel Cooper (surgeon) (1780–1848), English surge ...

, 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 Mark ...

, after John Opie, 1828. He also engraved a set of Benjamin West'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 John Pye (Birmingham 7 November 1782 – 6 February 1874 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 ...

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