Robert Thew (1758–1802) was an English engraver. He was born in 1758 at

Patrington Patrington is a village and civil parish in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England, in an area known as Holderness, south-east of Hedon, south-east of Kingston upon Hull and south-west of Withernsea on the A1033. Along with Winestead, it w ...

Holderness Holderness is an area of the East Riding of Yorkshire, on the north-east coast of England. An area of rich agricultural land, Holderness was marshland until it was drained in the Middle Ages. Topographically, Holderness has more in common wit ...

, 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 natural abilities, he invented an ingenious camera obscura, and later took up engraving, in which art, although entirely self-taught, he attained to a high degree of excellence. In 1783 he went to Hull, where he resided for a few years, engraving at first shop-bills and tradesmen's cards. His earliest work of a higher class was a portrait of Harry Rowe, the famous puppet-show man, and in 1786 he etched and published a pair of views of the new dock at Hull, which were overlooked by

Francis Jukes Francis Jukes (1745–1812) was a prolific engraver and publisher, chiefly known for his topographical and shipping prints, the majority in aquatint. He worked alongside the great illustrators of the late eighteenth century. He contributed numerou ...

. Having executed a good plate of a woman's head after Gerard Dou, he obtained from the Marquis of Carmarthen an introduction to John Boydell, for whose large edition of Shakespeare he engraved in the dot manner twenty-two plates after Northcote, Westall, Opie, Peters, and others. Of these the finest is the entry of Cardinal Wolsey into

Leicester Abbey The Abbey of Saint Mary de Pratis, more commonly known as Leicester Abbey, was an Augustinians, Augustinian religious house in the city of Leicester, in the East Midlands of England. The abbey was founded in the 12th century by the Robert de Be ...

, after Westall. Thew also engraved a few excellent portraits, including Master Hare, after Reynolds, 1790; Sir

Thomas Gresham Sir Thomas Gresham the Elder (; c. 151921 November 1579), was an English merchant and financier who acted on behalf of King Edward VI (1547–1553) and Edward's half-sisters, queens Mary I (1553–1558) and Elizabeth I (1558–1603). In 1565 G ...

, after Sir Anthony More, 1792; and Miss Turner, with the title ‘Reflections on Werter,’ after Richard Crosse. He held the appointment of historical engraver to the Prince of Wales, and died at or near

Stevenage Stevenage ( ) is a large town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, about north of London. Stevenage is east of junctions 7 and 8 of the A1(M), between Letchworth Garden City to the north and Welwyn Garden City to the south. In 1946, Stevena ...

, Hertfordshire, and was buried at All Saints church, Willian, Hertfordshire on 10 July 1802.Willian Parish Burial Register

References

;Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Thew, Robert 1758 births 1802 deaths People from Holderness English engravers 18th-century English people