Isaac Basire (20 September 1704 – 24 August 1768) was an engraver and first in a family line of prolific and well-respected engravers. Isaac Basire was known as a map engraver. His most well-known work is the frontispiece to an edition of Bailey's dictionary (1755).

Family

He was born in London the son of Jacques or James Basire, a

Huguenot The Huguenots ( , also , ) were a religious group of French Protestants who held to the Reformed, or Calvinist, tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, the Genevan burgomaster Be ...

and native of

Rouen Rouen (, ; or ) is a city on the River Seine in northern France. It is the prefecture of the Regions of France, region of Normandy (administrative region), Normandy and the Departments of France, department of Seine-Maritime. Formerly one of ...

, and Magdelaine Lair. Isaac sparked a prodigious line of engravers, including his son

James James is a common English language surname and given name: *James (name), the typically masculine first name James * James (surname), various people with the last name James James or James City may also refer to: People * King James (disambiguat ...

(1730-1802), grandson James (1769-1822), and great-grandson James (1796-1869). There is some difficulty in assigning works to a particular member of the family. All four worked as engravers, sometimes as an

apprentice Apprenticeship is a system for training a new generation of practitioners of a trade or profession with on-the-job training and often some accompanying study (classroom work and reading). Apprenticeships can also enable practitioners to gain a ...

to his father, with overlapping periods of productivity, and three shared the same name.

James Basire

James Basire James Basire (1730–1802 London), also known as James Basire Sr., was a British engraver. He is the most significant of a family of engravers, and noted for his apprenticing of the young William Blake. Early life His father was Isaac Basire ...

(1730–1802), also known as James Basire Sr., was the most significant of the family of engravers. He was noted for his skill at architectural prints and his apprenticing of the young

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. ...

James Basire II

James Basire the second (12 November 1769 – 13 May 1822) succeeded his father in an appointment from the Society of Antiquaries, indicating that he was a good draughtsman, a capable and accomplished engraver. His work and methods were nearly indistinguishable from his father's. Much of his best work was published by the Society of Antiquaries in 1808.

James Basire III

The last known James Basire was born in 1796 and died in London on 17 May 1869. He did a number of plates of

Sussex Sussex (), from the Old English (), is a historic county in South East England that was formerly an independent medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom. It is bounded to the west by Hampshire, north by Surrey, northeast by Kent, south by the English ...

country-houses including

Glynde Place Glynde Place is an Elizabethan Manor House at Glynde in East Sussex, England. Situated in the South Downs National Park, it is the family home of the Viscounts Hampden, whose forebears built the house in 1569. It is a Grade I listed buildin ...

and Glyndebourne House, but his work and artistic skill were not as well-regarded.

References

1704 births 1768 deaths 18th-century engravers English engravers English people of French descent {{UK-printmaker-stub