John Savage ( fl. 1683–1701) was an engraver and printseller in London.

Life

Savage was said to be French, and therefore may have been 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 ...

exile. He resided in Denmark Court, The Strand, until he purchased the plates and took over the business of

Isaac Beckett Isaac Beckett (1653 – 1719) was an English mezzotint engraver, one of the first practitioners of the art in the country. Life and work Beckett was born in Kent in 1653, and apprenticed to a calico printer in London, but, after meeting Edward ...

at the Golden Head in the Old Bailey. Later he moved to the Golden Head in St. Paul's Churchyard, a hub of the publishing and printmaking industry near

Doctors' Commons Doctors' Commons, also called the College of Civilians, was a society of lawyers practising civil (as opposed to common) law in London, namely ecclesiastical and admiralty law. Like the Inns of Court of the common lawyers, the society had buildi ...

.Shesgreen p.65

Works

Savage produced book illustrations and portraits which he published as frontispieces or separately, as well as playing and trade cards, and from 1683 he was the engraver of the plates for the ''

Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society ''Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society'' is a scientific journal published by the Royal Society. In its earliest days, it was a private venture of the Royal Society's secretary. It was established in 1665, making it the first journa ...

''. Though he had bought Beckett's stock of

mezzotint Mezzotint is a monochrome printmaking process of the '' intaglio'' family. It was the first printing process that yielded half-tones without using line- or dot-based techniques like hatching, cross-hatching or stipple. Mezzotint achieves tonal ...

plates and continued to offer mezzotints, the plates he produced himself were only etchings and engravings. His plates included: *"The Antipapists": portraits of the

Duke of Monmouth Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they are ranke ...

and

Duke of Argyll Duke of Argyll ( gd, Diùc Earraghàidheil) is a title created in the peerage of Scotland in 1701 and in the peerage of the United Kingdom in 1892. The earls, marquesses, and dukes of Argyll were for several centuries among the most powerfu ...

Arthur Capell, 1st Earl of Essex Arthur Capell, 1st Earl of Essex, PC (163113 July 1683), also spelt Capel, of Cassiobury House, Watford, Hertfordshire, was an English statesman. Early life He was the son of Arthur Capell, 1st Baron Capell of Hadham (executed in 1649) ...

, William, Lord Russell, Sir Thomas Armstrong, Alderman

Henry Cornish Henry Cornish (died 1685) was a London alderman, executed in the reign of James II of England. Life He was a well-to-do merchant of London, and alderman of the ward of St Michael Bassishaw; in the ''London Directory'' for 1677 he is described as ...

Algernon Sidney Algernon Sidney or Sydney (15 January 1623 – 7 December 1683) was an English politician, republican political theorist and colonel. A member of the middle part of the Long Parliament and commissioner of the trial of King Charles I of Englan ...

, and Sir Edmund Berry Godfrey, on one sheet; *

Philip V of Spain Philip V ( es, Felipe; 19 December 1683 – 9 July 1746) was King of Spain from 1 November 1700 to 14 January 1724, and again from 6 September 1724 to his death in 1746. His total reign of 45 years is the longest in the history of the Spanish mon ...

; *

Arthur Herbert, 1st Earl of Torrington Admiral Arthur Herbert, 1st Earl of Torrington (c. 1648 – 13 April 1716) was an English admiral and politician. Dismissed by King James II in 1688 for refusing to vote to repeal the Test Act, which prevented Roman Catholics from holding pub ...

; * Sir Henry Chauncy (frontispiece to his ''History of Hertfordshire'', 1700); * Charles Leigh, M.D., after

William Faithorne William Faithorne, often "the Elder" (161613 May 1691), was an English painter and engraver. Life Faithorne was born in London and was apprenticed to William Peake. On the outbreak of the Civil War Faithorne accompanied his master into the ...

(frontispiece to his ''Natural History of Lancashire'', 1700); and * Prince Giolo, a South Sea Islander in London in 1692. Savage etched plates of Marcellus Laroon's ''Cries of London'' for the publisher Pierce Tempest. Only two – ''The Merry Fiddler'' and ''The London Quaker'' – bear Savage's signature but

Antony Griffiths Antony Vaughan Griffiths, (born 28 July 1951) is a British museum curator and art historian, specialising in prints and drawings. From 1991 to 2011, he served as Keeper of the Department of Prints and Drawings, British Museum. He was Slade Profe ...

, the former Keeper of the Department of Prints and Drawings at 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 ...

, attributes all 72 of the series to him. He also engraved illustrations to Thomas Guidott's ''De Thermis Britannicis'', 1691,

John Strype John Strype (1 November 1643 – 11 December 1737) was an English clergyman, historian and biographer from London. He became a merchant when settling in Petticoat Lane. In his twenties, he became perpetual curate of Theydon Bois, Essex and lat ...

's ''Memorials of Cranmer'', 1694,

Leonard Plukenet Leonard Plukenet (1641–1706) was an English botanist, Royal Professor of Botany and gardener to Queen Mary. Biography Plukenet published ''Phytographia'' (London, 1691–1696) in four parts in which he described and illustrated rare exotic p ...

's ''Phytographia'', vol. ii. 1696,

John Evelyn John Evelyn (31 October 162027 February 1706) was an English writer, landowner, gardener, courtier and minor government official, who is now best known as a diarist. He was a founding Fellow of the Royal Society. John Evelyn's diary, or ...

's ''Numismata'', 1697, and

Robert Morison Robert Morison (162010 November 1683) was a Scottish botanist and taxonomist. A forerunner of John Ray, he elucidated and developed the first systematic classification of plants.Vines Biography Born in Aberdeen, Morison was an outstanding ...

's ''Plantarum Historia'', vol. iii. 1699. A pack of mathematical playing cards, published by Thomas Tuttell, was engraved by him from designs by

François Boitard François Boitard (1670 – c.1715) was a French Baroque artist. Biography Boitard was born in Toulouse. According to Houbraken he was a pupil of Raymond Lafage who later followed his style of making drawings and prints. He was able to attract ...

Notes

References

* ;Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Savage, John English engravers 17th-century French people 18th-century French people