Robert Johnson (1770 – 26 October 1796) was a British artist, 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 ...

Thomas Bewick Thomas Bewick (c. 11 August 17538 November 1828) was an English wood-engraver and natural history author. Early in his career he took on all kinds of work such as engraving cutlery, making the wood blocks for advertisements, and illustrating ch ...

in his

Newcastle upon Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne ( RP: , ), or simply Newcastle, is a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. The city is located on the River Tyne's northern bank and forms the largest part of the Tyneside built-up area. Newcastle is ...

workshop. Bewick taught him

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 p ...

, but discovered Johnson's talent for sketching in

watercolour Watercolor (American English) or watercolour (British English; see spelling differences), also ''aquarelle'' (; from Italian diminutive of Latin ''aqua'' "water"), is a painting method”Watercolor may be as old as art itself, going back to t ...

directly from nature.

Life

Born at

Shotley Bridge Shotley Bridge is a village, adjoining the town of Consett in County Durham, England. It is on the A694 road and beside the River Derwent which is crossed by the bridge giving the name. It was once the heart of Britain's swordmaking industry. ...

, near

Ovingham Ovingham is a civil parish and village in the Tyne Valley of south Northumberland, England. It lies on the River Tyne east of Hexham with neighbours Prudhoe, Ovington, Wylam and Stocksfield. The River Tyne provided an obstacle between Ovi ...

Northumberland Northumberland () is a county in Northern England, one of two counties in England which border with Scotland. Notable landmarks in the county include Alnwick Castle, Bamburgh Castle, Hadrian's Wall and Hexham Abbey. It is bordered by land on ...

, he was son of a joiner and carpenter, who shortly afterwards removed to

Gateshead Gateshead () is a large town in northern England. It is on the River Tyne's southern bank, opposite Newcastle upon Tyne, Newcastle to which it is joined by seven bridges. The town contains the Gateshead Millennium Bridge, Millennium Bridge, Sage ...

. Through his mother, who was acquainted with

, Johnson was in 1788 apprenticed to

Ralph Beilby Ralph Beilby (1744–1817) was a British engraver, working chiefly on silver and copper. He was the son of William Beilby, a jeweller and goldsmith of Durham who later moved to Newcastle upon Tyne to look for better opportunities. Ralph became a ...

and Bewick in Newcastle, to learn copperplate-engraving. Johnson mainly occupied himself in sketching from nature in watercolour. On the expiration of his apprenticeship, he abandoned engraving, and took up painting. Johnson died at Kenmore,

Perthshire Perthshire (locally: ; gd, Siorrachd Pheairt), officially the County of Perth, is a historic county and registration county in central Scotland. Geographically it extends from Strathmore in the east, to the Pass of Drumochter in the north, ...

, on 26 October 1796, in his twenty-sixth year. He was buried in Ovingham churchyard, where a monument was erected to his memory by his friends.

Works

Johnson made most of the drawings for Bewick's ''Fables''. His drawings for William Bulmer's edition of

Oliver Goldsmith Oliver Goldsmith (10 November 1728 – 4 April 1774) was an Anglo-Irish novelist, playwright, dramatist and poet, who is best known for his novel ''The Vicar of Wakefield'' (1766), his pastoral poem ''The Deserted Village'' (1770), and his pl ...

's and

Thomas Parnell Thomas Parnell (11 September 1679 – 24 October 1718) was an Anglo-Irish poet and clergyman who was a friend of both Alexander Pope and Jonathan Swift. He was born in Dublin, the eldest son of Thomas Parnell (died 1685) of Maryborough, Queen' ...

's ''Poems'' were cut by Thomas and John Bewick, and published in 1795. A drawing by Johnson of

Newcastle Cathedral Newcastle Cathedral, formally the Cathedral Church of St Nicholas, is a Church of England cathedral in Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear, England. It is the seat of the Bishop of Newcastle and is the mother church of the Diocese of Newcastle. ...

was engraved in wood by

Charlton Nesbit Charlton Nesbit (1775 – 11 November 1838) was a British wood-engraver. Life Nesbit was born in Swalwell in County Durham, the son of a keelman. Nesbit became the wood-engraver Thomas Bewick's apprentice in Newcastle upon Tyne around 1789 ...

; Johnson made a small copperplate engraving from the same drawing for the publisher, Joseph Whitfield of Newcastle. Having fallen out with Whitfield, he engraved three caricatures of him. Johnson was employed by Messrs. Morison of Perth to copy the portraits by

George Jamesone George Jamesone (or Jameson) (c. 1587 – 1644) was a Scottish painter who is regarded as Scotland's first eminent portrait-painter. Early years He was born in Aberdeen, where his father, Andrew Jamesone, was a stonemason. Jamesone attended t ...

Taymouth Castle Taymouth Castle is situated to the north-east of the village of Kenmore, Perth and Kinross, in the Highlands of Scotland, in an estate which encompasses 450 acres. It lies on the south bank of the River Tay, about a mile from Loch Tay, in the he ...

, the seat of the Earl of Breadalbane, for reproduction in

John Pinkerton John Pinkerton (17 February 1758 – 10 March 1826) was a Scottish antiquarian, cartographer, author, numismatist, historian, and early advocate of Germanic racial supremacy theory. He was born in Edinburgh, as one of three sons to Ja ...

's ''Iconographia Scotica''. Two drawings by him were engraved by

Charles Warren General Sir Charles Warren, (7 February 1840 – 21 January 1927) was an officer in the British Royal Engineers. He was one of the earliest European archaeologists of the Biblical Holy Land, and particularly of the Temple Mount. Much of his mi ...

, as illustrations to

John Gay John Gay (30 June 1685 – 4 December 1732) was an English poet and dramatist and member of the Scriblerus Club. He is best remembered for ''The Beggar's Opera'' (1728), a ballad opera. The characters, including Captain Macheath and Polly Peac ...

's ''Fables'' and

Ossian Ossian (; Irish Gaelic/Scottish Gaelic: ''Oisean'') is the narrator and purported author of a cycle of epic poems published by the Scottish poet James Macpherson, originally as ''Fingal'' (1761) and ''Temora'' (1763), and later combined under t ...

's ''Poems''.

References

;Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Johnson, Robert 1770 births 1796 deaths English watercolourists Draughtsmen People from Shotley Bridge